From:
Susan Kniep, President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
Website: ctact.org
860-528-0323
May 13, 2004
Please refer to the following website for an
article focusing on The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations and affiliated Taxpayer Groups.
Congratulations to Flo Stahl of Avon, Donna McCalla of Hebron and Orsini
of Wethersfield.
http://www.whitepublishing.com/Current%20Issue/Main_Current_Issues.html
*****************
Again,
we thank, Donna McCalla of Hebron Dollars & Sense who is doing an outstanding job on
compiling information on tax and budget proposals and adoptions by the towns
and cities throughout Connecticut.
Please refer to her comments below and the attachment which should be
opened in Excel. If you have difficulty opening this document, contact me
directly. (email: fctopresident@ctact.org)
WELCOME TO THE 29th EDITION OF
TAX
TALK
Your update on what others are thinking, doing, and planning
Send your comments or questions to me, and
I will include in next week's publication.
Please note that TAX TALK is now on our Website
Susan Kniep, fctopresident@ctact.org
Subject: FCTO President Susan Kniep,
Bill Currey and Mayor DeStefano
Participate in New London Day Forum on Sprawl and Property Tax
Reform.
Tax
Forum Blames Property Taxes For Sprawl, Says Time Ripe
For Reform, By Kate Moran, Day Staff Writer, New London, Published on 4/28/2004
New London — As
cities like this one struggle to hold down ascendant property taxes, leaders
from around the state agreed Tuesday that the political climate is ripe for
broad-based reform of the tax system.
Such reform became a serious possibility after the legislature created a
blue ribbon commission in June 2002 to study flaws in the current system and
recommend changes. The challenge now, seven months after the panel released its
findings, is to overcome the bureaucratic inertia that retards any attempt at
reform. “The public is aching for this
to happen,” said Bill Curry, a former state comptroller and two-time candidate
for governor. “All the institutions have to do is get out of the way.” Curry was among seven leaders invited by The
Day to examine how state and local governments might built
the consensus that is vital to an overhaul of the current system. Towns in Connecticut rely on the property tax and aid from the
state to fund all local services, including public education. When the state
curtails its payouts, towns have to raise property taxes in order to maintain
schools, police and fire departments and other basic needs. Members of Tuesday's panel faulted this heavy
reliance on the property tax for forcing towns to pursue development that
threatens open space and aggravates sprawl. They said the drive for so-called
“big box” stores and shopping centers homogenizes small towns and drains
shoppers from the cities, encouraging growth in areas that do not have the infrastructure
to support it. With little regional
cooperation, they said, towns must compete for the development that will
generate the taxes to fund local services.
“People desperate for property taxes are signing off on development at
the expense of central cities and regional planning,” Curry said. To relieve the local tax burden, the blue
ribbon commission recommended that the state take on a greater share of
education costs. However, one participant in Tuesday's forum questioned whether
the state is a proper steward of these funds.
Susan Kniep, a former mayor of East Hartford, said the state has
a history of curtailing the funds it is mandated by law to give to towns. With
the corruption charges dogging the governor's office, she said that state government
has less credibility than ever. Instead
of tax reform as a panacea, she said, the state needs to revise its binding
arbitration laws that award costly salaries, benefits and pensions to municipal
employees. Kniep is also the president of the Federation
of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, a group trying to reduce taxes. While most of Tuesday's panelists agreed that
reform is necessary, they debated the extent to which control of funds should
be ceded to the state. Mary Broderick, a
school board member in East Lyme, recounted that she
heard a voter say at a recent public hearing that he did not mind paying local
taxes because he knew the town could deliver a quality education. Some
panelists questioned whether the state commands that kind of confidence. Others offered a third way: a regional or
county authority with some power to collect taxes and distribute the burden of
services across several towns. Mayor John DeStefano
Jr. of New Haven noted that his city absorbs the bulk of
the costs of an airport that serves the entire area. A Democrat and prospective candidate for
governor in 2006, DeStefano argued that towns and
cities can curb sprawl by pooling resources to concentrate essential services
in urban areas and leave outlying towns pristine. Panelists debated whether the initiative for
reform would need to come from the state, regional or local level. David LeVasseur, an
undersecretary in the state Office of Policy and Management, blamed the slow
place of change on what he called “institutional reluctance” — or the force of
bureaucratic habit. However, Curry
reproached the governor's office for failing to take action. Noting that
town-by-town reform is impossible, he placed responsibility on the shoulders of
the state. He said public cynicism about state government should not be used as
an excuse. “There is no other place
where we can repose this hope,” Curry, a Democrat, said. “It is the only
vehicle available, and if we don't walk this road, there is no way to give
property tax relief.”
***********************************************************************Donna McCalla, CTJodi146@al.com
Tax Group: Hebron Dollars and Sense
Website: www.HebronDollarsandSense.com
Subject:
Connecticut Municipal
Tax Increase Comparisons for 2004
April 21, 2004
Congratulations, Thank You, Super Job to Donna McCalla who puts her time and effort into compiling
valuable information on Town and Board of Education Budgets throughout
the State. Please refer to Donna's comments below and the attachment
which should be opened in excel. Also, if you have information on
your town, you may wish to communicate with Donna directly at the email address
CTJodi146@al.com. Susan Kniep
A Message from Donna:
Hello,
all. I delayed releasing the latest spreadsheet on FY 2004-05 municipal
tax increases (proposed, approved and defeated) because this week was
"Super Tuesday." Next week is also a heavy voting week. The
data remains fairly consistent; the regressed numbers have risen slightly from
the last report of approximately 5.75% to 5.9%, although in looking at the
"not known" list, I expect this 5.9% number to go down.
History...
There are
now 13 1/2 defeated budgets (the Glastonbury fiasco accounts for the
"1/2"), and 34 1/2 passed budgets (again, the Glastonbury fiasco accounts for the
"1/2".) I still don't have data for 46 towns/regional school
districts, but some of those are defeated referendums and new numbers for Round
Two haven't been set yet. The 13 defeated budgets number
is tracking with last year's results at this time. The
traditional "budget war" towns are passing budgets more easily this
year, but others are picking up. In those towns passing budgets above the
5.75% level, it appears that last year's tax increase plays a role (i.e.,
generally, a lower tax increase than average last year, a higher tax increase
than average this year appears to have acceptance.) It also appears
from a significant number of newspaper articles that more and
more are looking to Hartford to solve the overriding problems we see
today in municipal finance. SB 456 on revaluation reform is moving full
steam ahead, and if this bill passes the Senate (which I believe it will, if
for no other reason than it's an election year), it will by its very nature
require overall municipal finance reform -- otherwise, where is the money going
to come from?? In addition, I have been in contact with several towns in
which the "reval effect" is causing some
confusion (as it did last year.) Some towns are able to tell you the
adjusted "new" mill rate after revaluations, and the new proposed
mill rate based on the proposed FY 2004-05 budget, and
some aren't. Many voting dates on the spreadsheet have been changed, as dates I
reported a couple of weeks ago were Budget Hearing/Town Meeting dates, which
were adjourned to referendum. I have made all corrections submitted so
far. This coming week will be another "Super Tuesday" week, so
it will be interesting to see the results after the votes. Donna
************************************************************************
Edith Duncan, weimar35@earthlink.net
Subject: Granby Tax Group, Binding Arbitration
Resolution
I am pleased to report
that I received an inquiry from Edith Duncan of Granby indicating that they
are planning to form a tax group and to also present the Binding Arb Resolution to their Board. Susan Kniep
*****************************************************************
Jack Walton, jacc45@hotmail.com
Watertown / Oakville Taxpayers
Subject:
Thomaston Tax Group
Sue....WOTA is aiding Thomaston CT...in developing a tax group....reporter
for Wtby. Newspaper interviewed me. From Sue Kniep:
I also received a call from the Waterbury Republican. I will include article in next Tax Talk
Edition. Thank you Jack.
*****************************************************************
SECOND
REQUEST FOR RESPONSE
Susan Kniep, fctopresident@ctact.org
Subject: Editorial Writer for New Jersey Newspaper Looking for
Information
April 20, 2004
I received the
following request. Prior to my
responding please email me your comments.
Susan
Hello,
I'm an editorial writer for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., where
we are trying to cut property taxes. I wondered if you could give me some
history on how Connecticut abolished
county government, and how much money
that might have saved. We are considering doing the same thing here.
Thank you,
Paul Wyckoff, PWYCKOFF@STARLEDGER.COM
The Star-Ledger
Newark, N.J. 07102
973-392-4159
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