When House Speaker bragged about how Larry Cafero keeps getting reelected despite bring home the bacon bits, he really wasn’t kidding. Of course its not just Cafero, but Perone, Morris, Boucher, Ryan in the House and Duff in the Senate that come back to Norwalk with the half filled jar of bacon bits with a nice label and press release announcing “bacon”. Our legislators just aren’t getting time at the trough. And oh what a trough it is. The Journal Inquirer reports on the $3 billion bonding proposal put forth by finance panels bonding subcommittee.

Sen. Donald J. DeFronzo, D-New Britain, co-chairman of the finance panel’s bonding subcommittee, said the Democrats’ plan adds funding for key programs, such as affordable housing and libraries. He said it leaves the state “far below” the state’s limit on bonding.

But Rell accused Democrats of overloading the package with unnecessary projects, especially initiatives in Democrats’ home districts. These projects often are called “pork-barrel” spending.

“This bonding package exceeds my proposals by a staggering average of 30 percent in each of the next two fiscal years,” the Republican governor said in a statement. “Is there no pork project they will not pay for on the people’s credit card?”

Rell said there are 137 allotments for projects in the first year, ranging from park benches to relocating Goodwin College in East Hartford.

Among the initiatives proposed in the Democrats’ bond package are:

* $500,000 to help construct a regional animal shelter in South Windsor.
* $9 million for Goodwin College.
* $1 million to Somers for two fire substations and another $1 million to expand housing for the elderly at the Woodcrest complex.
* $50,000 to the Tolland County Mutual Aid dispatching service.
* $3.3 million to help Enfield remediate pollution near athletic fields at Enrico Fermi High School.
* $1.5 million to help convert the Roosevelt Mills in Vernon to apartments and retail commercial space.
* And $283,000 to help Vernon restore the local Historical Society museum and the Vernon Grange Building.

Besides the $3 billion-plus in general obligation and transportation bonds, the committee also approved $2 billion in borrowing for the teachers pension program.

Now the bonding for the teacher pensions program is a good one. It’s a financial move that willr educe the interest paid by the tate to fund the pension obligations. The state borrows money to fund the pension fund because the state spends too much, but everyone in Hartford argues about that because the state does not follow GAAP. Insert my usual call for Connecticut to adopt GAAP here.

But the bacon projects identified by the Journal Inquirer are stunning when compared to a Courant interactive feature about which towns contribute taxes. Take a gander here: Courant’s Interactive CT Stats: Thank Goodness For Taxes From Greenwich.

Brian Lockhart’s Norwalk Advocate article zeros in on the the gutting of money that Governor Rell targetd towards Fairfield County towns:

Democratic leaders said they restored, or increased, other grants to municipalities.

But according to the figures the governor released yesterday, Stamford will lose out on more than $18.6 million; Norwalk loses $11.8 million; Greenwich $3.5 million; Darien $1.9 million; New Canaan $2 million; Westport $2.2 million; Weston $1.4 million; and Wilton $2.1 million.

On Monday the legislature’s Finance Committee voted for a major change in the way state income taxes are calcualted. From the Journal Inquirer:

The committee plan would create six state income-tax rates, ranging from 3 percent to 6.95 percent, with higher rates applying to higher incomes.

The income tax has just two rates. The first $20,000 of a couple’s income, and the first $10,000 of an individual’s, is taxed at 3 percent. All income above those benchmarks is taxed at 5 percent, regardless of how much more is earned.
Legislative fiscal analysts say the endorsed rate changes would bring in an extra $991 million next fiscal year.

But while $991 million is the net change, families earning less than $190,000 a year would see their income-tax burdens drop, and those over $190,000 would face an increase.

“It’s the fairest way of taxing people on the basis of income,” Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey, D-Meriden, said.

A second change to the income-tax system approved Monday would double the maximum credit a household could claim for paying local property taxes from $500 to $1,000. That credit is available only to families earning less than $190,500 and to singles earning less than $144,500. The change would provide an extra $280 million in annual relief to property taxpayers.

The new tax plan was crafted to complement a $37 billion biennial budget the Democrat-controlled Appropriations Committee approved last week.

The tinkering with the tax code also included, according to the Journal Inquirer:

* Joining a multistate “streamline sales tax” initiative to try to recoup sales taxes on Internet transactions. This would require Connecticut to repeal its partial sales-tax exemptions, including the rule that waives sales tax on clothing items that cost $50 or less.

Under the new plan, sales tax wouldn’t be charged on health and athletic club services, computer and data processing services, and items sold through honor boxes, such as newspapers. The bill extends the current sales-tax exemption on weatherization products.

* Establishing a state earned income-tax credit to help working poor families save money - a credit similar to the one within the federal income-tax system. This is expected to cost the state about $55 million per year.

* Increasing the amount of corporation and insurance premium taxes companies must pay, raising an extra $12 million per year.

* Boosting the cigarette tax from $1.51 to $2 per pack, which would provide an extra $80.8 million in annual revenue.

* Canceling a reduction in the 0.25 percent municipal tax paid on real estate transactions and making the tax permanent. The tax had been scheduled to drop from 0.25 percent to 0.11 percent on July 1. The Connecticut Association of Realtors, which opposes the tax, said homeowners last year paid $45 million to municipalities to sell their properties

Of these, the one concerning Norwalk is the real estate conveyance tax. Without it, Norwalk would collect less revenue, resulting in more budget battles.

source: Journal Inquirer, Democrats OK $3 million-plus bond package, By Keith M. Phaneuf, Journal Inquirer, 04/18/2007

source: Norwalk Advocate, Rell raps Dems’ budget on local aid, by Brian Lockhart, April 19, 2007

source: Journal Inquirer,Democrats approve tax package
By Keith M. Phaneuf, Journal Inquirer, By Keith M. Phaneuf, Journal Inquirer, 04/17/2007