Finch: State Budget Cuts Would Be Disastrous

Governor Dannel Malloy’s budget proposal, while increasing city school funding, potentially craters a number of other state funding sources for the city that would lead to a large tax increase, says Mayor Bill Finch. Statement from the mayor:

“This is an extremely difficult budget year for the State of Connecticut. The Governor should be applauded for his historic investment in education and in the areas of our state, such as our City that need it most. The budget also makes an important investment in critical infrastructure through capital improvements. This is a complex budget with many moving pieces, which we are currently analyzing to understand the full impact. Particularly, there are some items of great concern to the City of Bridgeport which include:

· the loss of Pequot Revenue, estimated at around $7 million;
· the elimination of state-owned PILOT payments which are estimated at $2.8 million; and
· the elimination of the automobile tax estimated at $17 million.

“All of these areas of concern represent substantial cuts to the City’s operating budget that funds core city services such as public safety, and public facilities maintenance services.

“If these cuts are implemented in full there would be disastrous consequences for our residents and potentially one of the largest local tax increases ever as the state tax burden shifts to our residents. I look forward to working with the Governor and the Legislature to address these issues during the next couple of months as the process plays out.”

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6 comments

  1. So what, Bpt has a high school grad rate of 30%; cut funding 70%, save a lot, save my tax increases, let the 70% of dopes remain “dopey.” Addition/subtraction, that’s what they taught at Bassick. Case closed.

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  2. Please Mayor, you can’t balance the City’s budget, so let’s blame it on the Governor just this once.
    It’s a revaluation year, and I’m looking for a freaking tax break now!
    I don’t care where you find the freaking money, start laying off your high-priced friends!

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  3. I am confused as the governor states he is

    – Refusing to Pass the Buck to Local Property Tax Payers

    – Holds Connecticut cities and towns harmless: no municipality receives less total funding than in the prior year, and most will receive more

    But it seems our Mayor is saying our taxes will increase?

    Someone please help me understand.

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  4. Eliminating auto taxes does not appear disastrous to me as we drive old cars with little value. I’ll bet lots of my neighbors will be happy with that change. For one thing it eliminates the concern about high mil rates in one town like Bridgeport causing a higher cost for Bridgeport taxpayers than if they lived in other communities.

    More study is needed to understand the interplay of reductions, eliminations, increases and hold-harmless provisions. Perhaps the Mayor will put out a comprehensive tally? Hold harmless, of course, may total the increased education funding to offset cuts that get spent in other areas and leave the City flat-funded by the State, and that passes the buck down to the City to put its own house in order.

    No one has responded to our comments on 2011, 2012, and again the 2013 budgets that were larded with “ghost expenses.” When the September 2013 monthly financial report showed $3,600,000 of net decreases in Line Item 51000 the sounds you heard were the captive ghosts being freed from the budget document. Did they have retirement benefits funded? Or healthcare expenses? No sighs from those line items. Oh well, the point is you have to start cutting and that is a cause for crying in cities. In Bridgeport it is a cause for shame as CitiStat has ceased to be a tool for identifying effectiveness and increasing efficiency as it once promised. If it were productive we would see and hear more about it. What you hear is the sound of silence.

    Pay attention to the budget hearings this year. That is where the rubber will hit the road. And Governor Malloy, by putting out his overall plan at this time, places the burden on localities for making the hardest choices locally where priorities are best understood. If tough choices are not made locally, taxes will certainly rise, and then the sound of silence will be replaced with “gnashing of teeth and wailing.” Time will tell.

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  5. *** Any lack of State or City revenue would be bad for the budget; so what else is new? What has city government over five years done to improve its “own” incoming revenue potential and ability instead of funding political city government depts and jobs that simply pay out with little or nothing in financial return? Spend, spend, spend; and make more promises or calls for more studies that in the end, bring “zero” to the city table! Mayoral elections are over, Finch could care less about the City Council election and who returns or doesn’t this year! Plus the city budget is a done deal when you have a B&A committee that’s completely lost and as gullible as they are! City taxes are going up and there’s nobody better to point the finger of blame at than the State of CT right now! *** SAME OL’ SONG AND DANCE! ***

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