Ganim Declares State Can't Shift Burdens To Municipalities

By Scott Benjamin

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim says despite turbulent finances he hopes that Connecticut’s state/local government relationship will not be forever altered?

Gov. Dannel Malloy, who was the mayor of Stamford for a record 14 years, has been praised for trying to maintain state aid to municipalities even though Connecticut has had one tattered budget after another since he arrived at the Capitol in 2011. However, the Nutmeg State currently faces a projected $5.1 billion gap for the current two-year cycle.

This winter the governor proposed in his budget that, among other things, one- third of the teachers’ pensions, which the state has funded since 1939, should be borne by the municipalities. Reportedly, the state took that responsibility after the teachers became concerned that the municipalities would not fully fund those payments.

The Hartford Courant has reported that only 14 states fund teacher pensions and Connecticut is one of only three of those states that don’t pass at least some portion of the costs onto the municipalities.

CT Mirror has reported that that Connecticut’s teachers’ pensions are the 11^th worst funded in the country, largely because the state has neglected making adequate payments for many years. That development has a familiar sound. Ganim and some of the other Democratic gubernatorial contenders have praised Malloy, who will not seek a third term in the 2018 election, with being the first governor in a generation to tackle the pensions for state employees, which are still woefully underfunded at 35.5 percent, according to CTNewsJunkie.

Now, nearly two months into the current fiscal year, the state still doesn’t have a budget, the General Assembly has indicated it will be at least September 11 before there is a vote and Malloy has said that if there isn’t a spending package by October, he will zero out Education Cost Sharing for 85 municipalities, reduce in another 54 municipalities and maintain those funds in the neediest 30 municipalities, including Bridgeport.

Regardless, Malloy, who has been running the state by executive order since July 1, has indicated that the 169 municipalities will have to take on some portion of teachers’ pension costs over the coming years.

“We can’t shoulder that burden,” said Ganim, who ran for governor in 1994 and was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor that year with gubernatorial nominee Bill Curry of Farmington, who was then the state comptroller. They placed a close second in a four-way race. He established an exploratory committee earlier this year toward seeking the Democratic nomination for governor next year.

“The immediate impact would be dramatic,” he said of taking on a portion of the teacher pensions.

“It also would likely grow exponentially over the years,” added Ganim, who governs Connecticut’s largest city, with 148,000 people.

Under former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s New Federalism of the early 1980’s, more costs were borne by the states as the federal government shifted some responsibilities.

Reports indicate that the states increased taxes, privatized more services, pared programs and raised more revenue through lotteries.

Municipal budgeting is usually more challenging than at the state or federal level. Many communities still have a town meeting format where the budget goes to referendum in the spring and fewer than 33 percent of the voters turn out and the budget hawks sometimes are out in full force.

Some municipal officials bemoan that there is a difference between ability to pay and willingness to pay taxes. Reports from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges make the same point about some communities.

Getting more than a three-percent spending increase is difficult to achieve in some municipalities.

In fact, Ganim says the state needs to provide more assistance to the Bridgeport and other big cities, such as Hartford, which is on the brink of bankruptcy, New Haven and Waterbury.

“The state needs to help lower the property taxes in the big cities,” Ganim said.

Many of the bigger cities are vertical with relatively little land, some of which is occupied by colleges and state operations that are exempt from property taxes. In fact, Roxbury, with a population of just 2,300, at 26 square miles is considerably larger than Bridgeport, at 19 square miles, as well New Haven (second in population) Hartford (fourth) and Waterbury (fifth).

Regarding, the overall budget, Ganim said he’s pleased that the state and its collective bargaining units have reached an agreement that will save $1.57 billion through concessions over the next two years.

He praised the bargaining units for increasing their payments toward the pensions, which he said “helps dramatically.”

Ganim’s second stint as mayor of the Park City came as a huge surprise.

Initially elected in 1991 at age 32, the youngest mayor in the city’s history, he stepped down in 2003 after being convicted of 16 counts of corruption in federal court. The New York Times reported that Ganim steered city contracts in return for clothes, wine, cash and home improvements. He served seven years in prison.

The New York Times reported that his 2015 victory was “a stunning return to public office. . . remarkable for its sheer audacity, coming after a widely publicized fall from disgrace.”

Ganim filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month against the State Elections Enforcement Commission him from denying him possible money from the Citizens Election Program because he is a convicted felon.

During his 2010 campaign, Malloy said he thought the biggest areas of future job growth would be in the nano-tech, bio-tech, bio-med and fuel cell industries.

Ganim said he believes that is still the case, but that additionally there are opportunities for more high-end manufacturing in the state and distribution centers.

Bridgeport has a 15 mega-watt fuel cell park that was constructed by Fuel Cell Energy of Danbury and Torrington that was negotiated under former Mayor Bill Finch, Ganim’s immediate predecessor.

Connecticut is considered a leader in fuel cell technology, primarily because the former UTC Power in South Windsor was considered the granddaddy of research in the field.

The mayor said he believes that despite the growth of Amazon and other online retailers, the brick and mortar stores can continue to thrive if they do a mix of conventional and online sales.

Ganim says despite recent layoffs and ESPN in Bristol and a decline in the slot revenues from the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, the state can continue to grow in entertainment-related areas. He noted that Bridgeport wants to covert the current Harbor Yard stadium for the Bluefish minor league baseball team into a concert amphitheater.

On another topic, Ganim said he’s not sure what impact the expanded Sunday and later night hours have had on Connecticut’s liquor store owners since they were established during Malloy’s first term.

He said he agrees with the governor that the state should eliminate minimum pricing and have the liquor stores engage in open competition.

“We’re probably behind the times,” said Ganim. “We have the risk in the border towns of people buying from large monopolies that have stores in the neighboring state.”

Liquor store lobbyists have strongly fought the legislation, indicating that it would result in the closing of several stores.

On a separate subject, Ganim said while Malloy has made progress in reducing the number of homeless people in the state, he still sees “too many homeless people on the streets.”

“The churches are still taking in a lot of people at night,” the mayor said. “There are people falling through the cracks who have mental health and substance abuse issues.”

Ganim said his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Connecticut at Storrs provided “fundamentals and background that helps me today.”

The mayor said that he now co-teaches an American Government class at the University of Bridgeport that provides a contrast in the dynamics of a president and Congress, a governor and the General Assembly and a mayor and a city council.

When asked if he would make his income tax returns public before next May’s state nominating convention, Ganim said, “I hadn’t thought about it.”

He said he would at least consider allowing reporters come in briefly to review the documents, as other candidates have done through the recent years.