Branford's Lawmakers Secure More State Aid for Their Town

BRANFORD, CT - State Senator Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D-Branford), State Representative Lonnie Reed (D-Branford) and State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-Stony Creek/Pine Orchard) applauded a $313,980 increase in education funding and $570,402 of new property tax relief for Branford families within the state budget being considered by the General Assembly today.

All together and despite difficult budget times, Branford will see an increase is $806,543 in state funding in the new state budget, the trio of lawmakers announced in a press release.

Legislators are facing a $930 million budget deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1 and the budget they are voting on today includes spending cuts and no new tax increases. When the original budget proposal came out in early April, Branford was slated to receive a cut to their Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant, the primary state funding the town receives.

Kennedy, Reed and Scanlon publicly criticized those cuts and worked tirelessly over the past month to convince the leadership of the House and Senate of how damaging those cuts to Branford schools would be. Under this budget proposal, Branford will receive $313,980 more in ECS funding than they did last year.

"We have been battling long and hard to educate Hartford about the real needs that we have in Branford - needs driven by our town's increasing Senior Citizen citizen population living on fixed incomes and by our growing diversity in the Branford schools. These new numbers are very encouraging and seem to indicate that our message is finally being received," said Representative Reed in a statement.

In addition to a boost in ECS funding, Branford will receive - for the first time - $570,402 in Municipal Revenue Sharing Account (MRSA) funding. Created in 2015, MRSA is a new state program that takes one half of a percent of sales tax revenue collected by the state and returns it to the towns for the purposes of property tax relief.

“When we began working on this budget, we made a commitment to protect the funding for our schools and communities like Branford,” said Senator Kennedy in a statement. “This budget cuts state spending to the level it was at four years ago and balances the budget without raising taxes or fees and without cutting our schools or towns. We are increasing funding for cities and towns so that municipalities can lower property taxes, hire teacher, police officers and firefighters, and rebuild our roads and bridges.”

"I'm proud to have worked with my colleagues in the Branford delegation to eliminate what would have been damaging cuts to our schools and, more importantly, to be able to bring over $1 million in new funding back to the community that will help municipal leaders reduce the property tax burden on Branford families," said Representative Scanlon in a statement.