Bridgeport Day at the state capitol is an annual showcase for city leaders to share the best that Connecticut’s most populous city has to offer in the final weeks of the General Assembly session. It’s also another opportunity for Mayor Joe Ganim to lobby legislative leaders for more dough in a difficult budget season.
Ganim was joined by the city’s eight-member legislative delegation, City Council and school board members, representatives of city attractions, Superintendent of Schools Fran Rabinowitz and city school students.
Ganim called it “the largest, most complete presence in Hartford” for Bridgeport Day.
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I think we need a larger and more complete presence of Hartford (State Capitol/Government) IN Bridgeport.
I have an idea for that!
DougDavidoff, so what is your idea. I am quite curious.
Ho hum.
We do this every years and what does it get us?
Nada, nothing, zilch.
Bob,
I know you know and understand what I am about to say, so you are not required to read or respond to it. I am writing for those who may be less informed than you are who may take your words at face value, and repeat the content as if it were scriptural writing.
If you were to consult the City of Bridgeport Finance Department web site, you will see Director Ken Flatto has provided information on the Single State Audit and the Single Federal Audit for 2015 never previously shared with the public. Review a couple pages into these reports and you will see in the FY 2015 the State of CT provided $324,215,068 and the Federal provided $54,815,705 to the City in that year.
These are the numbers for a given year, but their significance relative to the less than $300 Million we raise in City property taxes do not merit Troll’s dismissal as “Nada, nothing, zilch.” What does he expect? What would happen if Bridgeport’s delegation, a changing group from year to year, were not to show up for a few years? Time will tell.
Just a another beggar city in a beggar state with the same failed policies year after year after year after …
You can’t solve problems with the same people who caused the problems.
Until that changes nothing will change.
I beg to disagree. There is a huge amount of money in Connecticut. Connecticut is not a beggar state. Plenty of money. That’s why New Yorkers maintain a residence here. The entire suburbs drip with dollars.
Frank,
The fact is Connecticut ranks #47 out of 50 states in relative financial position and that ranking includes consideration of our higher median household income. CT is in serious trouble and needs to make tough choices and engage in a range of transformational reforms. I was on a panel in Hartford yesterday discussing the challenges and a “way forward.”
Dave,
I think the key word in your response is “relative.” I think I know what list you are looking at. CT is not the only state that is in “trouble.” There is a huge swath of older industrial states ranging from New England through the Mid_Atlantic States and then through the Rust Belt that are facing challenges of lost industries, ageing infrastructure. The United States is becoming a country of haves and have-nots–thanks to Reaganomics, trickle-down theory etc. The gap between the poorest and wealthiest has not been this great since the Roaring Twenties (1920s). The economic theory for that time was summed up by Calvin Coolidge; “The business of The United States Is Business.” Thank you William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover who all brought on the Great Depression.
Frank Gyure, on this I’m in total agreement with you. America’s infrastructure is falling apart, roads, highways, water system, bridges, rail lines and this is just the tip of things America must address now. Republicans will never address these issues.
The long and short of it is plain and simple. We need to live within our means and we need government to operate efficiently with no waste. No do-nothing jobs. Hire the best candidates for any job openings. Act like someone is looking over your shoulders (taxpayers take notice). Are tax revenues exceeding expenditures? Reduce the taxes! Don’t increase the expenditures simply because there’s money in the till. My message to the citizens of Bridgeport, stop electing officials who pledge to lower your taxes. I want to vomit every time I hear these words. Give me an honest pledge that you will spend taxpayer monies carefully and honestly. That will earn my consideration.
Not every town drips with dollars.
States ranked by per capita income
All data is from the 2010-2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.
Rank State Per capita income Median household income Median family income Population Number of households Number of families
District of Columbia $45,877 $71,648 $84,094 658,893 277,378 117,864
1 Connecticut $39,373 $70,048 $88,819 3,596,677 1,355,817 887,263
2 Massachusetts $37,288 $69,160 $87,951 6,745,408 2,549,336 1,610,581
3 New Jersey $36,593 $71,919 $88,419 8,938,175 3,194,844 2,203,675
4 Maryland $36,338 $73,971 $89,678 5,976,407 2,165,438 1,445,972
States ranked by median household income
Median Household Income by State
Rank State 2014 2010 2009 2007 2000
1 Maryland $70,004 $69,272 $70,545 $87,080 $72,372
2 Alaska $69,825 $68,342 $70,378 $84,035 $70,169
3 California $67,458 $67,034 $71,595 $90,967 $81,972
4 Connecticut $65,753 $66,953 $68,460 $81,333 $67,639
District of Columbia $65,124 $63,098 $57,214 $52,746 $50,681
5 Massachusetts $64,859 $62,081 $61,401 $59,365 $56,236
6 New Hampshire $64,712 $63,557 $62,731 $61,369 $60,489
7 Virginia $62,881 $61,330 $58,233 $59,562 $55,108
8 Hawaii $62,814 $59,290 $57,936 $97,317 $47,221 (2005)
9 Minnesota $61,814 $58,931 $57,021 $59,948 $53,770
10 New Jersey $60,287 $69,860 $79,989 $95,470 $90,214
As to the above lists, I copied and pasted and the columns did not quite follow order BUT as you can see, THERE IS MONEY IN CONNECTICUT.
You’re comparing states by residents’ income with no reference to taxes generated from business. Are you inferring CT should raise the income tax?
It was a direct response to naming Connecticut as a “beggar” state. I do have an issue in that I see a state of haves and have-nots.