I think I’ll just read news articles from the last paragraph backwards. Such a treasure trove of info. In today’s Advocate, Brian Lockhart reveals that Fairfield County Dems are not happy with the current budget being proposed by their leadership. They shouldn’t be happy, the budget as proposed raises taxes on many and gives us bacon bits back. It would be one thing to send that money back to Fairfield County so that infrastructure and services could be improved here, but no, Hartford prefers spending Fairfield County money on Meriden and New Brittain, despite Stamford recently displacing New Haven as the third largest city in the state. From the Advocate:
Freshman state Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, broke from many of his colleagues yesterday and said he planned to vote for the tax package.
Morris believed the income tax cuts and the earned income and property tax credits would benefit his constituents, many of whom live in lower-income neighborhoods in South Norwalk.
He said raising income taxes on households earning more than $250,000 “is an appropriate level.”
“(Those) people have more of the means to help others throughout the state,” Morris said.
But what else can we say about Morris. Mommy Morris isn’t wild about the budget either, Branford too gets soaked for tax increases and gets oyster crackers back.
The rest of the delegation weighs in:
State Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, said “a meaningful number” of his constituents would see their income taxes lowered.
“But there’s also a very meaningful number above the threshold,” Tong said. “People in Stamford make $100,000, $150,000, $250,000. These are people who get on the train every day. Working people struggling to hold onto their jobs, their homes, to plan for college for their children. They barely save any money. These are Fairfield County’s working people.”
State Reps. Gerald Fox, Carlo Leone, James Shapiro and Christel Truglia, all D-Stamford, said they have similar concerns about the proposal and were voting no or considering voting no.
Truglia said she thought this would be the year that the legislature would alter the formula used to divvy up education aid among cities and towns. Officials in municipalities such as Stamford and Norwalk, with high property values, say they are disadvantaged by the formula because it assumes they do not have some of the same financial challenges as Hartford and Bridgeport.
“But the ECS (educational cost sharing) formula wasn’t changed and we’ll be sending quite a bit of money to Hartford and not getting anything in return,” Truglia said.
McDonald agreed. He said the income tax increase would raise about $61 million in additional revenue from Stamford alone.
“That’s an extraordinary figure,” he said. “And I can’t support that without a massive overhaul of the education cost sharing (formula) and a slew of other statutory funding formulas.”
State Rep. Chris Perone, D-Norwalk, who, along with Shapiro, is a co-vice chairman of the legislature’s Finance Committee, said leaders altered the income tax proposal and found some extra money for schools.
But Perone said he has trouble backing a tax hike without a finalized budget.
“How do you do that?” Perone said.
Right, how can the Dems pass a tax increase without even knowing what the budget requires? Insert usual statement about adopting GAAP here.
The Stamford delegation also took a hit when their proposed boating saftey bill got waylaid over an amendment to repeal the gas tax pushed by the house GOP. The details:
A bill sponsored by the Stamford delegation to improve boater safety is in limbo after getting caught in last week’s General Assembly debate over lowering the state gas tax.
Earlier this session, Stamford legislators submitted a proposal to penalize boaters that do not yield or slow down near emergency vessels with flashing lights and blaring sirens. Sgt. Peter Wolff, a supervisor in the Stamford Police Department’s marine unit, requested the bill.
“It says if you see blue lights, you’ve got to slow down,” said state Rep. Gerald Fox III, D-Stamford. “The penalty mirrors what you’ve got on the road.”
The bill was intended to replace a law that requires mariners to yield to police and fire boats only after being signaled by emergency workers.
The transportation, public safety and judiciary committees passed it unanimously. But the bill ran into problems last week on the House floor when the Republican minority used it as a vehicle for a controversial proposal to waive the state’s 25-cent-per-gallon gas tax for the summer.
House and Senate Republicans a week earlier called on Democrats to lower the gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Democrats said the proposal was a gimmick that would benefit oil companies and cause sticker shock at the pumps when summer ends.
Which is too bad. This bill actually might do some good. Over in the Senate, the repeal of the gas tax passed the Senate. Senate president Don Williams and Majority leader Martin Looney added an amendment to a motor vehicle lemon law. The lemon law passed 35-1 with all 4 Senators from lower Fairfield County voting in favor.
Despite this, it appears unlikely that the House will pass the gas tax repeal.
source: Norwalk Advocate, Area Dems buck leadership on tax plan,
source: Norwalk Advocate, Boating safety bill sinking in gas tax debate,
source: Norwalk Advocate, State Senate votes to approve break on gas tax,
For the WHOLE article, not just segments Turfie likes, go to the Advocate link. Here’s a graf she left out:
“But many legislators from lower Fairfield County said they did not believe their cities and towns were receiving enough additional state aid for education and other needs in return.
Leading the fight at the Senate level were state Sens. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, and Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who were among the handful of holdouts who the Democratic leadership spent all day trying to win over in private caucuses.
“I’m voting ‘no,’ ” Duff said last evening. “Raising taxes when we have a billion (dollar) surplus is, in my opinion, a bad policy. . . . It doesn’t pass the sniff test.”
Duff and McDonald said they couldn’t approve tax increases when the legislature has yet to pass a budget.”
Anonymous #1: I think I covered that under the sentence “Brian Lockhart reveals tha Fairfield County Dems are not happy with the current budget being proposed by their leadership” but that’s why I post the links, so that people can go check out the full articles.
Bruce Morris does not represent middle class taxpayers of the city of NOrwalk. Disgraceful that he supports this large tax increase. A true tax and spend liberal.
#3 – I’m not a supporter of Morris though I’m in his district. You should drive through South Norwalk. I’m talking about the part away from SONO. You are right, Morris doesn’t represent the Middle Class – he represents a very poor part of town – an area full of illegal apartments (many of which are owned by “middle class norwalkers”) drug problems, and general squalor. The dumping ground for the rest of norwalk’s problems – let’s put all the “affordable housing” there!
I don’t think he is doing a good job representing our district, but he’ll probably be reelected if he chooses to run. I don’t see any Republicans in town chomping at the bit to represent this district!
Why not run again? He is still getting paid by the BOE without any questions from central office. Go back and read the article about Hartford’s new superintendant.
Hey #5 I agree with you – Morris should go. But who is going to run against him???????? Where are all the republican defenders of the middle class? Not in South Norwalk…it’s a bit too real here.
posting #4 sono dumping grounds,,I dare anyone to go the the EPA webside and deny the figures of the most toxic admissions in any part of the city, and to think , don’t even consider the power plant as part of the figures ..
The untold story ignored by the Hour and Advocate but the facts needed to report this is on a federal website for all to read..SoNo has an abundance of toxins right next to residential areas,,but who actually are exposed to all of this?
children, elderly and the poor but who cares not our city state or well off on the other side of the city,,
another armed robbery yesterday, and many arrests in South Norwalk a trend for the last month and what has been done? the news papers have given more room to report it,,soon it will be a full page daily has anyone else seen this?
Mr. Greenpeace – got a link to that EPA site you can post? Inquiring minds want to know.
I would also be curious to see before and after crime stats since Moccia was elected.
its easy go to epa.gov use the search option right hand corner,,use the zip codes 06856 and the one that counts is So Norwalk is 06854 then read , bear in mind some stats are years old knowing what I do I can tell you they havn’t dropped they have increased,,
Now wonder what we will read about the the condition of So Norwalk after the Brownfield report , I was given the impression that they have been steered away from the area,,
wonder why we never heard about the collection of hazardous waste here in Norwalk weeks ago,,again I was told record amounts were collected..a good story wouldn’t you say?
crime stats you won’t see they have been well hidden, news sources call the police station with hard evidence crime has occurred and they are told no worthy news or crime, yet residents tell another story,,
example ,gun confiscated by teen week before shooting,,fire in complex week before shooting the fire dept hides the news as well,,but if you live in So Norwalk you know the truth.
Shooting last week! but it was the movie set down on Water street but stiil the residents who heard it called it in as a shooting, sadly enough the police dept got how many calls?,,yes residents are conditioned unlike in other areas of Norwalk,,it was almost funny to hear the 911 dispatcher say yes I have had many calls from who the residents who cannot go out after dark and enjoy the city,,Downtown SONO stops where? Fort Apache?
the damm street lights are still on during the day suppose we pay for them as well on water st.
something to think about when your paying the next tax bill i guess…..
Crime? read the police and court news 6 out of every ten listings come back to So Norwalk which would mean 6 out of ever ten cruisers should be here,,suppose the bad guys know commiting crime in other areas are better knowing police are in So Norwalk,,makes sense
we were one of the safest cities in the country this was attained when the other cities that are safer didn’t enter into the survey of course it made us look good, then Halloween night another shooting, the (UPI)reporter was saddened when he was told of his oversight then to think the company who gave him the info set a web site up selling such details to cities and towns by a link in his story,,he was used and knew this,,
Explosion and fire here in Norwalk not reported fire dept was busy with a race delemma,,EPA stepped in and made the state respond,never heard the outcome there did you?
someone working on grants,last one awarded by Homelands in Norwalk was by a firefighter not a official,,another web site details that infor,,its disgusting enough we rent a fire station for the price of a fire truck each year where is the bargain? I had never heard of a rental like this in any city..we can’t buy our own station?
I wrote about a lot of this out here suppose its on file to bad we can’t referance it all it gave details facts and accountability which for whatever reason Norwalk residents are not use to seeing in the news,,yes there are good reporters but are only good when they are given the news to write and have resources,,burn a bridge and they won’t get any more,,ever notice how both the Hour and Advocate report the same news like nothing else happens, its odd how they both seem to be given the same stories to report on, have to admit its like they were programmed,,yes there is once in a while good to great articles but what about the news the stats the truth?
Gannett has now decided to pass on the Advocate , according to one source the paper now has a yard sale price and because of the lack of content ( what pictures of the parade did you see) it may as well fold..
so if you want the news read it here,,and to think someone said all that is here is trash talk..only a fool could beleive it ,,this site is awesome you read the facts from the street here and make your own assumption and for whats its worth while the city depts create red herrings the real issues are swept under the rug, they cost money .
This will be about the fifth time I have brought this up to the forum i hope if your effected by cancer or crime you ask yourself if any of this is true,
check out the EPA site for a start something this city would rather forget exists..
posting number 8
march 20th has a full detailed account of what transpired not covered by the papers,,,its under under they write , I write , we all write blog on this site of the explosion and fire here in Norwalk of this year.
Since then new rules have been applied right down to a thermometer that was broken last night and took 4 firefighters to respond. amazing what happens when someone gets caught not doing their job and gets thier hand slapped,,
one other question,,who pays for the gas collected out of the manhole on west street every so often by a haz mat crew,,police detail and ect,,course would be nice to know where the gas comes from first?