Rosenthal Hopes For More State Aid For Newtown

By Steve Bigham

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal announced last week that Newtown might be in line for even more state aid than first thought. Is the state turning over a new leaf these days? It appears to be recognizing that the local property owners are having trouble footing the bill.

The town, if all goes well, stands to receive $462,000 more state aid than what had originally been proposed in Governor John Rowland’s budget. That’s $100,000 above even what the Legislative Council added to the capital reserve fund to reduce the mill rate.

Proposed Bill 1376 calls for the state to disperse $41 million worth of surplus to the municipalities. Last year, the state handed out $34 million in surplus. In January, however, Gov Rowland’s budget proposal did not include any revenue sharing provisions. The official name of the bill is “An act concerning the budget reserve fund.”

“At least we’re moving in the right direction,” Mr Rosenthal said. “It came out of the appropriations committee and it now heads to the full legislature for a final review and vote. We usually hear sometime in June or early July.”

Any money the town receives above the $362,000 which it budgeted for will go into surplus. It can no longer be used to lower the tax rate increase since the tax rate was set by the Legislative Council this week.

Additional funding may also be coming on the education side.

Mr Rosenthal suggested that people continue to urge their legislators and the governor to support the Appropriations Committee recommendation.

Last month, Mr Rosenthal made a spirited bid to Hartford during a public hearing on the town budget.

“We need to let Hartford know that it can not continue to place such a huge tax burden on the local property owner,” he said. “Unfortunately, our Legislative Council and town officials end up being the whipping boys for the failures of the state.”

Mr Rosenthal has been working closely with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), which is working hard to secure more revenue to the towns.

“We probably won’t know [if the bill will be approved] until June 6 at earliest. Everything I’m hearing is that some form of revenue sharing will be made available,” Mr Rosenthal said.

There is a second item being discussed in Hartford these days that, if approved, would bring in as much as $171,000 directly to the Board of Education. The bill has to do with special education funding and the rate at which the state reimburses towns.

Gov Rowland has not only proposed no increase in state reimbursements for local costs for special education, but also proposes to cut the Special Education Equity grant by 50 percent ($5.75 million).

A third proposal would give Newtown an additional $62,000 in state aid from the Mashantucket Pequot Fund. Gov Rowland had proposed cutting this funding as well, but state legislators are reportedly against the idea.

In addition, Mr Rosenthal said residents should tell their state legislators to expedite the removal of the funding cap on the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) Grant. Since 1995, the amount that each town’s allotment under the ECS Grant can grow each year has been capped. This means that grants to towns with growing enrollments or declining wealth have fallen significantly below the intended level. For 2000-2001, the six percent ECS funding cap is denying $116.7 million in state education aid to 96 cities and towns. No community can receive a year-to-year increase beyond what the cap allows. The cap is scheduled to be eliminated in 2003-2004.

 

Email Addresses

The following is a list of names and email addresses of key legislators in Hartford:

Senate Leadership:

President Pro Tempore: Senator Kevin Sullivan

Kevin.B.Sullivan@po.state.ct.us

Majority Leader: Senator George Jepson

Jepson@senatedems.state.ct.us

Minority Leader Senator Louis DeLuca

Louis.DeLuca@po.state.ct.us

 

House Leadership:

Speaker of the House: Rep Moira Lyons

Moira.Lyons@po.state.ct.us

Majority Leader: Rep David Pudlin

Dave.Pudlin@po.state.ct.us

Minority Leader: Robert Ward

Roberts.Ward@housegop.state.ct.us

 

Local Legislators:

Senator John McKinney

John.McKinney@po.state.ct.us

Representative John Stripp

John.Stripp@housegop.state.ct.us

Representative Pat Shea

Pat.Shea@housegop.state.ct.us

Representative Julia Wasserman

Julia.Wasserman@housegop.state.ct.us