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Kevin Maloney
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The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) today (Thursday, April 13) applauded the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee for proposing an overall increase in state aid to towns and cities that is $55 million more than the level proposed by the Governor in her budget address - but expressed concern about the lack of specificity in town-by-town grant funding, particularly ECS numbers.

CCM thanks the Committee for increases in State Payments-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (Colleges and Hospitals and State Property) and in the Pequot and Mohegan Fund; as well as for rejecting proposed cuts in Priority School District Funding and Special Education Equity Grants. The rejection of the Governor’s proposed cuts in Town Aid Roads, while helpful, means that this important grant to towns and cities remains level-funded at $30 million, less than the $35 million at which it was funded in 1998.

There also is welcome new funding earmarked for regional cooperation incentives among towns, and for participating in a pool to reduce municipal health care costs. We support the overall concept of a healthcare pool, but await greater details about how the pool would work.

While the $204 million increase in Education Cost Sharing grants is welcome, it is $24 million less than the Governor’s proposal and reportedly includes no provision for property tax relief, unlike previous proposals from the Governor and the Education Committee.

Another troubling element of the Appropriations Committee proposal is the lack of specificity in town-by-town grant funding. The town-by-town numbers put out by the committee are overall grant numbers that make analyzing specific grant amounts very difficult, particularly Education Cost Sharing numbers.

CCM thanks the Appropriations Committee for setting a new budget floor for meeting the bi-partisan goal of property tax relief in 2007-08. We urge the Governor and Legislative Leaders to build upon these funding commitments during the upcoming budget negotiations.

See attachment for further details on individual grants.

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