Local Officials Pitch
Photo source: CCM
Posted 3/8/10
Mayors, selectmen, and selectwomen were at the State Capitol complex again last week in a ritual they themselves detest—begging for bucks at the legislature. The task is just part of their jobs, jobs that have become increasingly difficult in this recessionary economy.
“I know you must get tired of seeing local leaders come to the Capitol, hats in hand, urging you to provide us money to address municipal problems,” Portland First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield told the legislature’s Appropriations Committee. She added: “Believe me, we don’t like being forced to—in essence—beg the legislature for the funds needed, but that’s the nature of the current system for financing municipal services.”
Local officials know the budget-writing Appropriations Committee is peppered with requests for money from the directors and constituents of various programs and other special interests. They just don’t like being lumped into that group.
Municipal elected officials say state government should view them as “partners” in Connecticut governance, not malcontents with their hands out. For example, over the years many lawmakers joke privately that the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) really stands for the “Conference of Crying Mayors.”
John Elsesser, Town Manager of Coventry, told lawmakers that “the recession is an opportunity to re-think how government works at all levels” and that towns can be “incubators for success if given latitude and respect.” Elsesser urged lawmakers to perceive the municipal-state relationship as “a strong family working together” instead of at “cross-purposes.”
However, political reality too often stands in the way of a group hug. Mayors and selectmen have their own budgets to fashion and get adopted. Legislators are responsible for approving a state budget, and in the recession, they’re responsible for getting rid of a nagging deficit at the same time.
Though intelligent lawmakers know they should be thinking long-term about multi-billion dollar structural deficits not far over the horizon, inevitably they will be affected most by the desire to get reelected this fall, and that means they’ll act short-term on the challenges at hand, and probably not much more.
In the process, they’ll do what they can for mayors and selectmen, but it’s their own fates they care most about. That is just a hard law of politics. Deep down, local officials know that. Nevertheless, they make their pitch.
In one sense, a legislative election year can work for them. Lawmakers have resisted Rell Administration calls for cuts in municipal aid in recent years, and probably will continue in that stance. You don’t want to agitate the folks back home, because this fall you are on the ballot—not mayors and selectmen.
Cities and towns again are asking lawmakers to consider easing their iron grip on revenue sources. Municipalities, reliant on the local property tax are telling legislators, if you can’t give more state aid, then allow us to get revenue from other taxes.
One suggestion is a 3% hike in the state hotel occupancy tax, with the money going to cities and towns. The beauty of that tax is that it is levied primarily on visiting out-of-staters. Lawmakers are willing to consider this move, but it is not a chip shot. Hotel operators are complaining about it. Their point? The economy stinks, travel is down, our facilities are struggling, why do you want to raise our taxes?
If some new revenue option can’t be approved, local officials urge lawmakers to help in other ways, such as postponing or repealing costly state mandates—state-ordered programs or changes in the law that often create new municipal burdens because they are enacted without any state funds to accomplish them.
For decades, the legislature has been pushing cities and towns to work together to save money—sharing the costs of public works, health programs, permit filing, and other efforts to lower expenses.
Municipal officials say they are trying but Simsbury’s Interim Administrator Bonnie Therrien told lawmakers there is no “magic bullet” in this process. “Municipalities do not have enough staff to do the work necessary to make these voluntary regional programs a reality,” she warned.
CCM officials urged lawmakers to consider having the state provide financial incentives or outright assistance to help cities and towns attempt more regional ventures.
It’s too early to tell how much empathy for cities and towns lawmakers will exhibit this year. For municipalities the picture remains grim.
When asked by Appropriations Committee co-chair Sen. Toni Harp (D-New Haven) what percentage of towns will consider hiking local property taxes this year, East Hartford Mayor Melody Currey, vice president of CCM, replied: “I would say probably 100%, because everybody tried last year to cut (spending) and keep taxes low.” Currey said the recession has sapped local revenues and unless the state surprises towns with added aid, property tax hikes are just around the corner.