Municipal leaders from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), the statewide association of towns and cities, will conduct a news conference on Monday, January 5, at noon, to:

1. Discuss the impacts on towns and cities of this deepening recession; and
2. Detail CCM’s municipal legislative priorities for the 2009 General Assembly session; state assistance – including assistance with no cost to the state -- needed in order to avert a substantial tax shift from the state level to the local level and a continuation of necessary local services.

The news conference will be conducted on Monday, January 5 at 12 noon. in the State Legislative Office Building, room 1C, in Hartford.

Much of what CCM will be asking for would not cost the State a dime over the biennium. The priorities also will show the way to enact property-tax reform measures in 2009 that will bear fruit in the future.

CCM-member municipal leaders invited to lead the news conference include:

• Elizabeth Paterson, Mayor of Mansfield and CCM President
• John DeStefano, Mayor of New Haven
• William Finch, Mayor of Bridgeport
• Sebastian Giuliano, Mayor of Middletown
• Mary Glassman, First Selectman of Simsbury
• Wade Hyslop, Mayor of New London
• Richard Moccia, Mayor of Norwalk
• Susan Bransfield, First Selectman of Portland
• Laura Francis, First Selectman of Durham