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Politics & Government

Barnes: Municipal Aid Still on Table for Potential Cuts

The budgetary gap is a concern to municipal governments, primarily because many have either recently adopted their own budgets for 2011-12, or will do so soon.

Under a tentative agreement between the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the bargaining coalition of state employee unions, the state’s 2011-12 budget has a $400 million shortfall, leaving some local governments wondering if the deficit will be closed at the expense of municipal aid.

News of that budgetary gap is a concern to municipal governments, primarily because many have either recently adopted their own budgets for 2011-12, or will do so soon. Their budgets have been constructed with the understanding that the governor would maintain education funding to the state’s towns and cities.

So far, the Malloy administration has been tight-lipped about how they will fill the gap, but officials have said taxes will not be raised any higher than the $1.4 billion included in the budget the governor signed into law May 4. State statutes require a plan be in place by May 31.

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Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes was hesitant Tuesday to release details about where that money will be found.

“All I can say is that I anticipate that’s going to be made up of additional spending cuts,” he said.

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Barnes noted that there are surplus funds built into the budget, but he said that money is necessary to get the state back on stable economic footing. For that reason, he said he is reluctant to use the money to fill the $400 million gap.

He said also that cutting some municipal aid funding is not out of the question.

“Until there is a reconciliation package adopted by the General Assembly on June 8th I think it would be foolish to take anything off the table,” he said.

But Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy's senior communications adviser, added that “the governor has made it clear that that’s not something that he’s terribly interested in doing."

Windsor Town Manager Peter Souza said that while he understands funding to towns likely will be preserved, it’s an issue he’s watching closely. Windsor passed its budget May 10 with the understanding that the state funding would be there, he said.

In the event that some the funds are cut, the town would have to alter its plans depending on the magnitude of those cuts, Souza said.

That might involve implementing a selective hiring freeze and not filling vacant positions as town employees leave, he said. While Souza said he remains hopeful it won’t come to that, he’s not taking anything for granted.

“I’m realistic. Four hundred million is a lot of dollars no matter how you look at it,” he said.

Jim Finley of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities said that the issue was part of the discussion during a legislative committee meeting at CCM that morning.

Finley said the conference was cautiously optimistic that the shortfall won’t be reached by cutting funding to towns.

One reason for that is Malloy already has signed a budget into law that includes that funding, he said. The legislature would have to go back and amend the budget to take the funds away, and it’s unlikely anyone in the legislature has the stomach to do that, he said.

While $400 million seems like a lot of money, Finley said it should be looked at in perspective.

“In a $20 billion state budget, as daunting as finding millions sounds, we believe there’s an opportunity to do that without hurting cities and towns,” he said.

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