Sunday, February 24, 2013

Today's Insider is brought to you by the Letter "P" for Pilot Funds!


Will Mayor Drew step up and tell the Big Dan-Dan Gov. Dannel Malloy his budget will suck the life out of cities like Middletown?  It was already reported by the Patch that Mayor Drew was proweling City Hall asking for ideas for ways to raise revenue, that and the record number of appropriations that are being asked for each month are sure signs the Mayor's budget is in trouble. Residents can already count on taxes going up at least 2.4 mils, just how much more can we expect?
Read more below about Malloy's plan to ax PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes programs) and how this will reek havoc on the City's finances.



MUNICIPALITIES SEEK LEGISLATIVE HELP
FOR A FAIR STATE BUDGET
By James J. Finley, Jr.
CCM Executive Director and CEO

Just the facts:  The Governor's proposed state budget would raise property taxes, cut municipal services, and cause municipal employee layoffs.

The proposed state budget would:

 *   terminate nation-leading payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) programs designed to partially reimburse host municipalities for the loss of revenue due to state-mandated property tax exemptions;
 *   collapse longstanding education assistance programs and use the funds for conditional aid;
 *   redirect at least $86 million in non-education municipal aid to education and restrictive capital programs;
 *   eliminate over $520 million in municipal car tax revenue under the guise of property tax reform; and
 *   fail to hold towns and cities truly harmless.


Towns and cities are looking to the General Assembly to modify the Governor's proposed state budget to protect municipal aid, property taxpayers and the quality of life in our communities.

Why, you may ask, is there such a disconnect between how the administration describes their budget proposal and the way it is viewed by mayors and first selectmen?  The simple answer is that this budget proposal shifts critical municipal general aid that helps pay for the non-education side of local government to other purposes, including closing the state budget deficit.

Municipal aid dollars shifted to pay for chronic state underfunding of PreK-12 public education and restricted capital purposes cannot be used to pay for police officers, firefighters, and other municipal employees and services.  Add the proposed loss of over $520 million in car tax revenue, and homeowners, businesses and vital municipal services get shafted.

The Governor's proposed state budget would cut or eliminate:

 1.  PILOT:  State-Owned Property (-$74 million):  This nation-leading PILOT program, enacted in 1969, is designed to partially reimburse host municipalities for the loss of property tax revenue due to the state-mandated property tax exemption on state-owned real property.  The program would be erased from the statute books and the funding eventually folded into the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant.
 2.  Mashantucket and Mohegan Fund (-$56 million):  This seminal revenue-sharing program to provide local property relief, funded by a portion of Native American slot machine revenues, would be slashed.
 3.  PILOT Manufacturing and Equipment (-$48 million):  The assault on this PILOT program to partially reimburse host municipalities for state-mandated property tax exemptions on manufacturing equipment began last year with a proxy MME Transition grant. The proposed budget kills the program.
 4.  Municipal Revenue Sharing Grant (-$43 million):  Governor Malloy's groundbreaking new program to share a portion of the increased state sales and state real estate conveyance taxes to provide local property tax relief is eliminated after only one year of existence.
 5.  Public School Transportation Grant (-$25 million):  This grant program to assist municipalities in paying for public school transportation is eliminated.
 6.  PILOT DECD (-$2.2 million):  This PILOT program to partially reimburse municipalities for revenue lost from state-mandated property tax exemptions on developments operated by housing authorities would be eliminated.
 7.  Priority School District Grant (-$76 million):  Funding for this program that helps our poorest school districts would be slashed by 62%.
 8.  Motor Vehicle Property Taxes (-$520 million in municipal revenue):  The Governor proposes to eliminate the local property tax on most motor vehicles (those with assessed values of $20,000 or less) beginning in FY 15. The concentrated burden of the regressive property tax would then be shifted to homeowners and businesses.

The Governor's proposed state budget makes profound and negative changes to the state-local funding partnership.  It substitutes state priorities for those of local government.  It substitutes state micromanagement for municipal flexibility.  It disproportionately hurts our poorest towns and cities.

By eliminating 3 out of 4 payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) programs, the proposed state budget would turn the clock back 40 years and terminate state funding responsibility for state-mandated property tax exemptions.   It would immediately establish $126 million in new unfunded state mandates, leaving other local property taxpayers and host municipalities holding the bag.

While the proposed state budget increases bond funding for the Town Aid Road Grant (+$30 million) and Local Capital Improvement Programs (+$56 million; expands permissive uses and allows reimbursement retroactively for FY 13 expenses), and increases conditional education aid to our 30 lowest performing school districts, the bottom line is that towns and cities are losing at least $86 million in general municipal aid and would suffer a devastating loss in car tax revenue.

Today, 62 cents out of every local property tax dollar goes to pay for PreK-12 public education.  The State is underfunding the Education Cost Sharing Grant by over $720 million dollars.  In most communities, the education portion of the municipal budget exceeds 70%.  Funding education has long been a municipal priority, to the detriment of non-education services.  It's had to be because the State has chronically underfunded it.

The non-education side of municipal budgets has actually shrunk in real dollar terms over the last decade as towns and cities have diverted precious resources to pay for increasing education costs. Forty years of litigation have underscored the fact that the State has repeatedly failed to meet its state constitutional responsibility to adequately fund PreK-12 public education.  The proposed state budget pays for increased, targeted education funding by eliminating PILOT reimbursements, state revenue sharing, other general municipal aid and diverting or cutting categorical education programs.

However well-intended, the proposed state budget would abandon and shift many state funding commitments to towns and cities.  It will force mayors and first selectmen to raise already high property taxes, make additional cuts to municipal services, and lay off more municipal employees.



6 comments:

  1. Bottom line, Drew and Malloy had there chance. It's time to vote them out. Actions speak louder then words. They spoke, we acted and gave them a shot. They missed the target by a mile. Time to give someone else a chance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, but that is not going to happen, the sheep in Middletown/CT usually swing DEM due to entitlements and other issues.. Those that pay taxes (higher and higher) complain,b ut vote the same way time and time again despite the D controlled general assembly screaming them over cycle after cycle.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rep got to run Seb or someone like Seb. Again , bottom line, he swong the dem vote via the I'm from middletown and Italian. Until the last election when he made himself look like a fool with mcmouth and turning his back on many who backed him. I think people are sick of dans phoniness and willing to vote Seb back in or someone like Seb, middletown will forgive, but not forget. Will see. What is it? 7 months until election?

    ReplyDelete
  4. WHY should Giuliano run again? Those who said they would help him did NOTHING. Laziness. And those so called Italians were lazy too because they didn't come out or call out the democrats screwing them.Many city employees complained and didn't help now they have a terrible boss with temper tantrums- well they deserve it too. And when Giuliano told people about the crap happening with Michael Frechette and the BOE the parent turned a blind eye and blamed him for suing the BOE. They voted for Drew and look what it got them, maybe they deserve it. They drank the Ed4Ed everything will be magical and we will get along villager kool aid. The general public wants high taxes,a young face, they are willing to read the papers and believe everything pretty boy narcisist says so they got what they asked for.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Middletown tax payers need to wake the heck up- they should be asking Matt Lesser Joe Serra and Dante Bartolomeo who are in office what they think about this! This is critical and will increase our taxes! Why is everyone asleep on the job??? I had not heard of this until posted here and I am outraged.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The photo is like an outtake from Fantasy Island.. Mr. Rourke and Tatoo.. FUNNY

    ReplyDelete

Authors of comments and posts are solely responsible for their statements. Please email MiddletownInsider@gmail.com for questions or concerns. This blog, (and any site using the blogger platform), does not and cannot track the source of comments. While opinions and criticism are fine, they are subject to moderator discretion; slander and vile attacks of individuals will not to be tolerated. Middletown Insider retains the right to deny any post or comment without explanation.

Popular Posts