More than 1,000 motorcyclists met up in Norwalk Sunday morning for the start of the ninth annual “CT United Ride,” memorializing the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States and honoring the rescuers. Starting out at 11:30 a.m. from Norden Park, the bikers rode up Interstate-95 to Seaview Park in Bridgeport.
Norwalk’s various institutions will be hit by bonding that Rell is proposing to stop. So does Stamford. Bond issuances are solely at the discretion of the Governor.
Norwalk:
Darien
Westport
Greenwich
Bridgeport
Fairfield
Stamford
One of the striking things about this list is how much state aide goes to Bridgeport versus the rest of Fairfield County. Then again, look at the overall bonding list and see the distribution overall. WTNH is reporting that these bonding projects were approved as far back as 2007.
The odd thing is that much of these bonds whether you agree that the state should incur debt or not, go to rebuilding or building something. In short, the types of jobs that spur the economic activity in the state of Connecticut. SOme of which I bet has to do with matching funds from federal grants. Yet here is Rell halting the funding for projects that would put many people to work. It’ll be interesting to see what the spin in all this is beyond the legislature, when the cities who are most affected now have to cough up money for projects.
A hat tip to SecondhandRose for pointing out the WTNH story that led to the list.
Ancestors’ RoadshowSaturday, March 28, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
This is your opportunity to sit down one on one with an experienced genealogist from the Connecticut Professional Genealogist Council and learn some tricks to send you in the right direction with your family tree research. Bring your questions and spend 30 minutes getting solutions and suggestions. You may be a beginning family historian or an experienced researcher blocked by a brick wall. We will have consultants with a wide range of specialties.
Call the Historical Collection at 576-7417 for an appointment (required).
Sponsored by Connecticut Ancestry Society and the Bridgeport Public Library Historical Collections.
Location: Burroughs Branch
Ken Dixon over at the Connecticut Post has an alarming story about just what Hartford legislators are up to in the finance committee, raising taxes:
Connecticut teachers and state employee unions on Monday asked the legislative Finance Committee to approve a new progressive income-tax structure that makes the wealthy pay more.
And first-year Rep. Auden Grogins, D-Bridgeport, said the city needs a new law that would allow it to establish a local 1 percent tax on meals, alcoholic beverages and hotel occupancy.
Apparently Groggins never heard of the send 1% back from the current sales tax, championed by State Senator Bob Duff and State Rep. Chris Perone. But it gets worse.
Rep. Cameron C. Staples, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the committee, said that since the state’s $1.4 billion emergency reserves have been created by capital gains taxes in recent years when Wall Street workers were making a lot of money, it has created the proper cushion that was envisioned for it.
“Were we to project double-digit growth in our revenues and reliance on the capital gains receipts every year, we would be in much bigger trouble than we’re in,” Staples said. “This is a unique downturn, I think, now, but typically we’ve got surpluses accumulating in good times by virtue of that in our rainy day fund and we have that available to us now.”
Do you see where’s Staples is heading? Sure is looking at that tax easy button doesn’t it? Then we have municipal unions weighing in.
Brian Anderson, lobbyist for AFSCME Council 4, which has 35,000 members in the public and private sector, said the income tax has to be raised on the wealthy because they have gotten “massive” tax cuts in recent years, even during the recent war years.
“Gov. Rell’s continued assertion that any tax increase on the wealthy will hurt the state’s economy makes no sense, particularly at a time when she’s demanded that state employees should give back wages,” Anderson said. “Most of the state employees represented by the Council earn between $21,000 and $60,000 a year. They spend their paychecks on Main Street.”
Well okay fine, but its not state taxes and property taxes that have gotten cut now isn’t it? And if we really take a look at federal taxes, it’s not like Connecticut gets any money back anyways. Connecticut is a donor state. We pay federal taxes that go on to fund sprawl in Arizona, or Alaska, or Wyoming to name a few. We get sixty-nine cents back for every dollar sent to the feds, and oh by the way, Connecticut sends the most income taxes to the feds. We rank #1.
Grogins told the committee that her constituents pay some of the highest property taxes in the state and it was a “critical reason” she decided to run for the House.
Perhaps the endemic financial mismanagement of successive local Bridgeport government might have something to do with that outrageous property tax mill rate Bridgeport pays. But Groggins doesn’t grasp basic math, because despite the low mill rates, residents of New Canaan and Greenwich still manage to pay higher property taxes. In Greenwich, the median price for a home was 1.9 million in 2007. That means that half the homes in Greenwich are priced more and half priced less than 1.9 million. With the mill rate that means 14,749 in taxes on that median Greenwich home. Bridgeport has amedian home price of 230,000 and that means $9,724 in taxes. Ouch, but not the highest.
“I was taken aback by the astronomical number of people being forced to sell their homes or even losing their homes because they could not afford to continue to pay Bridgeport’s significantly higher property taxes,” she said, adding that allowing the city to levy 1 percent sales taxes on meals, drinks and hotel occupancy, can indirectly help homeowners.
“But frankly, we need to do much more to address the problem of overburdened taxpayers across the state and give them much needed tax relief,” she said.
She asked lawmakers to consider adding provisions to exempt a portion of homeowners’ assessments from property taxes; to put limits on tax increases; and allow “circuit breaker” programs for elderly and disabled homeowners.
Has Groggins considered asking Hartford to spend less money? Just a thought.
source: The Connecticut Post, Teachers, unions want rich to pay more taxes, By Ken Dixon, 03/02/2009
Remember those administrative contracts that were rubber stamped through both the BOE and the Common Council? Look at how Bridgeport handles it union negotiations:
A city union representing school and municipal employees has ratified a new four-year contract that freezes wages for two years and requires workers to take a five-day, unpaid furlough.
The agreement reached with Local 1522, Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was announced Tuesday by city officials. The union represents 761 workers.
The deal freezes salary increases for the first two years. In the final two years, salaries increase by 2.5 percent every six months from July 1, 2010, through Jan. 1, 2012. In addition, union members will take five days off without pay between now and the end of the school year in June 2009.
Altogether, the concessions amount to $1.15 million in savings, said city Budget Director Thomas Sherwood. On the school side, Sherwood said there should be $613,000 in savings when salaries paid by grants are factored out.
Robert Henry, chief of staff for the school system, challenged that figure, saying the savings is closer to $500,000.
A tentative agreement was reached Jan. 16 between the city and union leaders, and the contract was ratified late last week. It next goes to the City Council for review.Anna Montalvo, president of Local 1522, did not return repeated phone calls for comment.
Although 642 of the union’s employees work for the school system as classroom and library aides, special education van drivers and clerical workers, the contract is negotiated by the city. On the city side, the union represents about 119 sanitation, parks, road and recycling workers. On average, Local 1522 workers make about $33,000 a year.
Roughly one-third of Local 1522 employees are paid from state and federal grants. The city cannot recoup savings realized by the zero-salary increase and furloughs for those employees. Sherwood suggested the Board of Education still might be able to keep those dollars and spend them on other school expenses.
As part of the deal, there would be no layoffs of collective-bargaining unit employees through June 30, 2010.
Adam Wood, chief of staff for Mayor Bill Finch, called the negotiations long but fair to the workers. He said that when raises do kick in, so does a health benefit reopener that could affect employee premium costs.Henry said the no-layoff clause potentially hampers the flexibility of the school board in making budget decisions best for the students. The board is facing the strong possibility of zero-budget increases from the city and state in the next fiscal year.
Sherwood said that if the AFSCME workers aren’t getting raises and aren’t adding to the cost, “why should you have to cut them?”
Already, 61 school employees, including Supt. of Schools John Ramos and his top administrators, have agreed to take furloughs of up to five days once the board approves a giveback package. Other school employees who have agreed to take furloughs include 21 tradespeople, seven department coordinators and 26 unaffiliated workers.
Henry told the board Monday that the Bridgeport Education Association, which represents city teachers, has decided not to negotiate any concessions. A five-day furlough among teachers could have reaped $4.4 million in savings, according to school officials.
Sherwood said teachers still have an option to come back to the table and bargain.
Also, no concessions have come from the Bridgeport Council of Administrators and Supervisors, which represents school principals and other middle managers.
So far, the school system has identified $2 million in potential savings toward a city request that it not spend $7 million of the $215 million budget it was given for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
Mayor Bill Finch is seeking the $7 million to help plug a projected $20 million deficit in the city budget this fiscal year.
source: Connecticut Post, Bridgeport union agrees to furloughs, wage freeze, By Linda Conner Lambeck, 01/27/2009
In college football, there is no playoff to determine the national champion. Instead a series of bowl games settles the score, or not, as the convoluted formula deployed by the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) administrators, ranks and revises the pecking order of the top 25 college football teams, and then messes with who gets to play who in the bowl games. The Connecticut legislature in Hartford has much in common with the BCS, which is why there is debate about just who is the real national champion in college football, and in Hartford, just who is getting state funding.
The eight largest cities in Connecticut are Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury and New Britain could be Big 8. Except that the bottom 5 don’t have much in common with the big 3. For the leaders of 17 mid-sized towns, the big 3 are the haves, at least in terms of state funding and state legislative priorities. The 17 have banded together to seek relief from Hartford’s penchant for unfunded mandates.
Invited by the mayors of West Hartford, East Hartford and Middletown, a group of 17 communities from throughout the state and representing a mix of Democratic and Republican administrations has met twice so far. They are completing a list of priorities this weekend to give to their legislators and plan a news conference at the state Capitol Jan. 6.
Joining the lead communities at the meetings this month were Bristol, Meriden, Fairfield, Hamden, Manchester, West Haven, Stratford, Enfield, Groton Town, Groton City, Torrington, Vernon, East Haven and New London.
The principal theme is this: The group simultaneously wants to distinguish itself from the eight largest cities Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury and New Britain while emulating what the top three do best: cooperating on a legislative agenda.
The state is saddled with a gaping deficit and local aid is likely to drop next year. As a result, all these communities are faced with the prospect of raising taxes again even if spending is cut.
Perhaps the bottom 5 of the top 8 might want to get around to co-operating on legislative agendas. Co-opting the fight against unfunded mandates would be one. And the mid-sized city conference, in keeping with football analogies, has identified a few unfunded mandates.
The group’s priorities include: changing the way housing values are determined, from computer-driven mass assessments to a formula based on actual sale prices; fast-tracking state approvals on millions of dollars worth of development projects that are ready to proceed; delaying a new state law extending juvenile-court jurisdiction to 16- and 17-year-olds, which would require staffing and facility changes at local police stations that could cost as much as $100 million statewide; and putting off a new requirement for in-school suspensions, which would take up staff time and space.
So let’s see what school systems have triggered the in-school suspension law. According to a report issued by Connecticut Voices For Children, an education advocacy group, Bridgeport reported 22 percent of its school population received at least one out of school suspension, followed by Hartford at 19 percent, New Haven, New London and New Britain coming in at 17 percent. The state average was 7 percent. Note that the schools with the highest out of school suspension net the greatest amount of state aide for education. The school systems that don’t, rely in property taxes to fund their schools. And so the burden of a legislative decision to target a select group of school systems with endemic problems falls to tax payers of school systems that would rather, we hope, put their tax dollars into classroom instruction.
Then there’s the DOT. This dysfunctional state agency squanders millions and in addition sits on project approvals so that cities have to contend with loss of property tax revenue because projects are delayed. Rell and the legislature, essentially tut tut, about the agency but haven’t managed to split it, streamline it or even prod it into the 20th century.
Undoubtedly there are more unfunded mandates that could be addressed, more cost controls that the legislature could be addressing. But there’s an absence of discussion that continues.
source: Courant, Mid-Size Connecticut Towns Seek Power In Numbers, By JOSH KOVNER, December 27, 2008
What would Bridgeport look like if the Beardsley Zoo, the Bridgeport Bluefish, and Captain’s Cove Marina were to close? Bridgeport would look similar to Waterbury, a former industrial city trying to attract a young and burgeoning economy. These days Waterbury has pinned its hope on an indoor water park. The Coco Key Resort, 55,000-square-foot indoor water park, recently opened in October of 2008. Not that there’s anything wrong with water parks. But commercial attractions like Coco Key rely on the disposable income of families just as much as non-profit organizations too. And in tight economies, things happen. Witness the latest PR push by the firm that operates Waterbury’s park:
CoCo Key Water Resorts want to help families create those lasting memories while going easy on the pocket book. Guests will receive $50 off their overnight stay between December 25, 2008-January 31, 2009 when mentioning promo code “bailout”*.
“It’s our own “mini” bailout for families deserving a break with their families but needing a little financial assistance,” says Kirk.
CoCo Key Water Resorts offer day and overnight package options to fit any budget. Overnight packages typically start at around $179-$199 per night, which includes four water resort passes valid for two full days of swimming. Day passes are also available based on resort capacity. Four-pack value ticket options are now available online and provide a great value for families.
To plan a water resort getaway or for more information, guests can visit the CoCo Key website at www.CoCoKeyWaterResort.com.
Reducing rates during the key fourth quarter is a harbinger of underlying revenue uncertainty. But the news out of Bridgeport, gives pause to complex issues that arise out of municipal relationships with cultural institutions. In an October Connecticut Post article, reporter Bill Cummings identified that the Beardsley Zoo owed $100,000 in back rent, Captain’s Cove Marina owed $147,620 in back rent and the Bridgeport Bluefish owed $187,500 in back rent. All these rents are owed the City of Bridgeport which leases the public lands to the various organizations that operate there. Which raises the question of how the City of Bridgeport will be able to differentiate itself from the rest of the big cities in Connecticut. For awhile, Bridgeport was fostering a burgeoning arts community. With places like NEST, which delivered artist studio space being sold to in order to change over to condo units, the art vibe will struggle.
Norwalk is not immune to the same big city pressures. The Maritime Aquarium is in the midst of a capital plan fund raising for its master plan expansion, but also is restructuring as a result of declining revenues. The Lockwood Mathews Museum faces similar issues, a capital intensive master plan but falling revenues. The Stepping Stones Museum may be in better shape, but is also seeking to expand.
Cultural institutions are a part of what defines a city. They collectively encourage visitors and generate jobs and economic activity. The State legislature is already looking at curtailing the film tax credit that has recently brought feature film shoots to Connecticut and created post production jobs, generating over $400 million in-state production expenses, according to a Courant article.
With municipal budgets facing harsh realities of lost revenue, struggling economies and resident aversion to tax increases, the cultural organizations that rely on the mix of private donations and public funding support are increasingly vulnerable. Yet without these organizations, the quality of life in a city suffers.
Why? Because they are in deficit. The AP report:
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Bridgeport officials are looking at raising more fees for all sorts of services to make a dent in a projected $20 million deficit.
The proposed increases include charging owners $150 when their dogs leave a mess on a sidewalk or if they are found roaming at large.
Proposals also included increasing fees for loitering, carrying a weapon, selling live poultry, building new sidewalks, erecting signs and parking violations.
Last month, the City Council agreed to increase more than 130 fees and fines in an effort to pump an estimated $1.5 million into the city’s budget. Those fees included higher costs for business licenses, parking violations, contractor licenses, building permits, burglar alarms and massage and barbershop licenses.
From a press release:
Citywide Leaf Pickups to Begin Nov. 17
The City of Bridgeport’s Public Facilities Department will begin picking up leaves throughout the City beginning Monday, Nov. 17, 2008, weather permitting. New this year: residents are asked to place leaves in brown paper recyclable paper bags for collection.
The program will begin in the Red section: – The area of the City north of North Avenue (Route1), including North Avenue to Trumbull Town Line between Fairfield Town Line east to route 8/25 & Seltsam Road. Pickups then move to the Green section: – The area south of the Trumbull Town Line to Pleasure Beach between Beardsley Park east to Stratford Town Line. Pickups then move to the Blue section – this is the area of the City bounded by North Avenue to Seaside Park (Waldemere Avenue) and east from the Fairfield town line to Water Street downtown.
The City also will continue to pick up leaves and bundled branches after the regular round of fall leaf pickups, on the regular recycling day, as long as the leaves are placed in brown recyclable bags.
The City does not accept plastic bags during leaf pick-up. Plastic bags and other containers of leaves may be taken to the Asylum Street Transfer Station during normal operating hours. The Transfer Station is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 12 noon.
For more information, call 576-7124 or 576-7751.
Municipal wetlands oversight was the subject of a recent report by the Council of Environmental Quality. The report identified 30 cities and towns that failed to have a staff person receive state mandatory training, surprisingly, Bridgeport being one of them. The report also identified 55 towns and cities that failed to file a yearly report between 2004-2007. Ridgefield, which has a combined zoning and inland wetlands commission was listed as having granted permits that altered wetlands. Norwalk does not appear on the lists.
The report makes recommendations to increasing DEP staffing to engage in enforcement.
The full report is here.
The Council on Environmental Quality’s “special report” also found that of the 170 municipal wetlands commissions in the state, 55 didn’t report their wetlands data for at least one of the last seven years.
More than 20 towns fail to submit reports about their wetlands decisions to the state Department of Environmental Protection in any one year, according to the study, and some never submit such reports.
As a result, the council concluded, the DEP “does not know what is going on in these towns.”
Disclosing that the DEP has a staff of just three officials who oversee and support municipal wetlands regulation, the council recommended that the agency hire “at least two more people to provide more oversight and support, especially when it comes to towns that are not complying with requirements.”
“Imagine a team with 1,500 players and only three coaches,” Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Thomas Harrison said. “That’s the position of the DEP.”
Harrison also said the council, whose report was spurred by citizen complaints, was concerned about the council’s ability to handle enforcement cases.
The council “started its review of the wetlands program two years ago because the DEP was taking many months to investigate a single complaint of illegal filling, and clearly the problem was staffing levels,” he said. “They did not have anyone to visit the sit of the alleged violation.”
The council also said as many as 30 cities and towns haven’t complied with a law requiring local wetlands agencies to have at least one member or staff person complete a state training program.
The panel said those “untrained towns,” on average, “permit more wetlands destruction with each permit they issue when compared to the trained towns.”
Similarly, the council said that while nine cities and towns have wetlands agencies that also function as their zoning commissions, those municipalities permit more wetlands destruction per permit than the 161 that have separate wetlands agencies.
source: Journal Inquirer, State panel raps towns for not filing reports, By Don Michak, October 11, 2008
