Mayor Joe Ganim and members of city’s legislative delegation on Thursday are scheduled to share what he terms “major victories” in the recently completed session of the General Assembly including “passage of bills to save taxpayers millions in debt service payments, eliminate major pieces of unfunded pension liability, bring professional boxing and mixed martial arts to the city, and fuel-cell powered thermal loop heating district for downtown Bridgeport, the first of its kind in the USA.”
“There’s no doubt that 2017 was a difficult legislative session,” said the mayor in a statement. “But despite the challenges, the Bridgeport delegation worked very hard–together, as a team–to achieve some monumental things that will make a major impact in our community for decades. I am very proud of their efforts and the way our senators and representatives supported each other and stuck together, making sure the city of Bridgeport was strengthened by the Connecticut General Assembly so we can continue to be a hub that supports our whole region. We are very hopeful that Governor Malloy will sign these measures into law, both he and legislative leadership on both sides of the aisle have demonstrated a real commitment to investing in Bridgeport as one of the engines that drive our economy.”
The city asked and received the statutory authority to issue bonds to pay off more than $83 million in unfunded pension liability into the Connecticut Municipal Employee Retirement System at a lower interest rate than the eight percent set by the CT Retirement Commission, according to city officials.
The mayor and delegation will share details of the latest session at a Thursday morning news conference.
The big question mark for the city, and other municipalities, is the lack of a state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. Governor Dan Malloy and legislative leaders are posturing over the best way to close a projected deficit estimated in the billions over the next two years.
See Lennei Grimaldi commentary below.
http://onlyinbridgeport.com/wordpress/running-a-state-without-a-budget-malloys-roller-coaster/
It’s difficult to claim a legislative victory when Bridgeport has no skin in the game. Here’s what I mean:
1.Bridgeport’s new parking meters represent the worst roll out in the history of municipal progress. Investment was made by an out of state company and they will enjoy good terms for years to come. Bond money paid for it. That’s a transfer and not an achievement. No skin, Bridgeport.
2. Transfer occurs again when Bridgeport unloads more pension obligations to the state. No skin, Bridgeport.
I’d rather have sandpaper scraped across my knuckles than listen to the upcoming press conference about legislative achievements from a GA session that remains unfinished.
Is this a Ganim2 move or not?
1) Let OIB announce a meeting to highlight “legislative accomplishments” on the following day…
2) But the City web site has not listed such a meeting or press conference less than 24 hours into the future…
3) And the typical who, what, when where, of a press release are substantially absent? Isn’t there a City publicist for a Mayor who sends mail to me asking for $100 so he can pursue “statewide office”?
4) I have written a good deal, in general about the Mayor’s big idea to float a bond issue at a lower interest rate than MERS is seeking to earn on its investments. Lots of questions? They are ignored. Is a Bridgeport solution fitting for the State? If not, why not? Seems so simple, doesn’t it?
Steve Stafstrom, please call me as you indicated yesterday that you would. I trust you to know the details or at least take the time to seek them out. The devil is in these details. Deflate the hoopla, and provide the details, please.
By the way, there are more parents and voters looking for what will sustain education in Bridgeport 2017-18 than are looking at these potentially amazing accomplishments. Why no word on these? Time will tell.
I think OIB posters should talk to all members of the Bridgeport GA delegation. Look up the voting and look up the TOTAL voting of the GA and see where it was a close vote amongst ALL STATE REPS. Was it a close vote. Was it a near unainimous vote? The vote totals of the Connecticut General assembly are available to all on the Connecticut General Assembly website. Why are we focusing on State Rep. steve Stafstrom. Is he the deciding person on all these issues? OKAY..OIB..let’s talk about how the entire General assembly voted on these individual bills and let’s dig deep into the grass.The devil is in the deyails and the votes of the General Assembly are public records. NONE of these issues were the result of the work or actions of one state rep. They included all state reps and all state senators and signature of the Governor. Why are we just talking about one particular state rep?>>
Let’s take a look at one particular bill. HB 7296 concerning floating a bond versus pay as you go. One can certainly argue the merits or debits of this issue. I get the sense that is about 1/2 mill rate for Bridgeport taxpayers. Let’s go see what the ENTIRE CT GA felt on this issue. In the State Senate;the votes were as follows..Yea-30 No-6. That looks like a fairly bipartisan agreement. Let’s move on to the State House. The vote were as follows; Yea-104..Nay-43. Again,it seems to be a fairly bipartisan resolution. I am not saying that the “floating of the bond” is right or wrong, I am just bring a bigger picture of how the State of Connecticut is dealing with Bridgeport.
The Legislative Achievements concerning the City of Bridgeport was like the Dutchman running around poking fingers into the ever increasing holes in the dike while the waters and cracks are ever increasing.
“Mayor Joe Ganim and members of city’s legislative delegation on Thursday are scheduled to share what he terms “major victories” in the recently completed session of the General Assembly including “passage of bills to save taxpayers millions in debt service payments, eliminate major pieces of unfunded pension liability, bring professional boxing and mixed martial arts to the city, and fuel-cell powered thermal loop heating district for downtown Bridgeport, the first of its kind in the USA…”
This is a joke… Right? The kernel of a Bridgeport, comedic musical to be written by the GA delegation and staged at the Bijou?… Will we get to see these “bad actors” sing and dance for us in our own city in real time? (The rotten egg and tomato concession for such a show could be very lucrative and actually bring a real job or two to this city…) Millions in savings? Doubtful… Fuel-cell powered heating loop?! BS; garbage-incinerator-powered, hugely expensive, environmentally disastrous, dangerous, high-pressure, underground, “Wheelabrator-tax-cheat-excuse” heating loop… The BS out of City Hall and Hartford just keeps getting higher and higher… (Maybe we should rename City Hall Mount S&^%-more…) This was perhaps the least-productive GA session for the state and city ever, with the Bridgeport delegation (with one or two notable exceptions) displaying world-class dumbass in Hartford for 6 straight months on behalf of our poor city…
Pathetic BS!