Lauretti Says You Can Bang The Drums For Shelton

By Scott Benjamin

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti says in Connecticut, where state government budget deficits reappear regularly, pensions are left largely unfunded, the upper crust are fleeing and corporations need incentives to stay, his city is a pocket of economic vitality.

In his 26 years as the chief elected official – the longest current tenure of any mayor or first selectman in Fairfield County - the number of businesses has nearly tripled without offering “corporate welfare,” an apparent reference to Gov. Dannel Malloy’s (D-Stamford) First Five/Next Five program that has provided financial incentives to such corporate titans as ESPN, Bridgewater Associates and NBC Sports to generate more jobs in the state.

The governor has said Connecticut has to compete – noting that Massachusetts, for example, provided $164 million in incentives to lure General Electric away from Fairfield.

The Republican gubernatorial hopeful says there have been no tax increases in Shelton for the last eight years, no municipal employees have been laid off – in fact, there have been salary increases – and no services have been cut. The city’s pension obligations are 100 percent funded.

Lauretti believes Shelton has become a jewel in the Naugatuck Valley.

This contrasts with a state government, where under Malloy, there have been the two largest tax increases in Connecticut history, there’s a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit for the next two fiscal years combined and the pensions are only 35.5 funded even though Malloy has increased appropriations in that account since taking office in 2011.

The governor’s proposed budget would reduce municipal aid and have the municipalities pay one-third of the teacher’s pensions after the state has had that full obligation for generations.

“It’s shameful,” said Lauretti in an interview.

He recommended that other municipalities follow Shelton and approve a “status quo” budget this spring rather than adjust to the figures Malloy proposed in February.

“Why tell the Legislature that it’s acceptable to have those numbers?” he said.

The state budget will be approved by the first week of June at the earliest, weeks after most municipalities will approve their local budgets for the fiscal year that starts in July.

Lauretti says being a mayor of a population of 40,000 is conducive to running a state. You manage public employees and a budget. Four of Connecticut’s last eight governors had been a chief municipal official before winning the state’s top office.

Except, when you’re mayor, you’re closer to the rank and file.

“When I go into Home Depot it’s either at 6:30 in the morning or 8:30 at night because otherwise it’s difficult for me to get out,” Lauretti said.

The mayor – who also has been a teacher, coach and business owner – said the most important thing he learned from his unsuccessful bid for the 2014 GOP gubernatorial nod was the value of starting early.

He didn’t launch his campaign until January and raised $142,000 in four and a half months – well below the $250,000 in small contributions needed to qualify for Connecticut’s Citizen Election Programs grants.

Shortly after the convention he joined forces with Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, opting to run as lieutenant governor on a ticket in the primary. Heather Somers of Groton, now a state senator, had initially been on a ticket with Boughton but then abandoned him to run on her own.

Boughton, who had qualified for the GOP primary as he finished second to Tom Foley of Greenwich at the convention, needed Lauretti to get the required 8,190 petition signatures by June 10 so they could pool their resources to qualify for the state Citizens Election Program grant.

However, Lauretti fell 1,467 signatures short of the goal.

He had tried to petition to get on the ballot in 2010, but suspended that effort after there was a federal probe that CT Hearst has reported landed two local developers and the municipal building inspector in prison. No charges were made against Lauretti, who has maintained his innocence.

This time, Lauretti, who filed formal campaign papers earlier this month, said he’ll need to at least be “in the $250,000 neighborhood” by the end of the year – the minimum amount required for the grant - if he is to continue his bid to next May’s state convention.

There is a diverse field – which includes Boughton, state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan of Glastonbury, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker of Bridgeport, Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst and former Secretary of the State contender Peter Lumaj of Fairfield raising money for an unspecified state office. Thus, Lauretti says there will probably be a primary in August of next year.

With Malloy announcing recently that he won’t seek a third term, it is likely that there also will be a Democratic primary.

Regarding fiscal issues, Lauretti said it is “obvious” that the state employee collective bargaining units – the largest block of workers in Connecticut – hold too much influence at the State Capitol.

He said they should agree to revisions in their pension plans, since the current system where most of them are paying 0-2 percent of the costs, is not sustainable.

Lauretti added new hires should have a less-expensive defined contribution plan instead of a defined benefit program.

“There has been a lack of discipline in Hartford,” Lauretti said. “People want to satisfy their favorite interest groups.

As for erasing the projected budget deficit for the next two years, he acknowledged that “some people are going to be hurt.”

“I’m not sure you can do it all at once,” Lauretti added.

He said it is long overdue for the state to limit its bond appropriations. Malloy canceled last month’s Bond Commission meeting.

Critics have said too often the state has paid for part of the new municipal playground or the high school field press box – projects that seldom were on the agenda a generation ago.

“It’s political patronage,” Lauretti said.

The mayor said he could “lower taxes” if the state didn’t require so many “voluminous” reports from municipal and school officials.

On another topic, Lauretti said he disagrees with a recent call by state labor leaders to increase corporate taxes.

“Just raising taxes will make it worse,” Lauretti said. “More people will leave.”

However, the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the General Assembly’s budget arm, has reported that corporate taxes made up 20 percent of the state’s revenue in 1989 but only six percent in 2016.

Even though Connecticut doesn’t manufacture rubber balls anymore, it does considerable higher-end manufacturing

Donald Klepper-Smith, the chief economist for DataCore Partners in New Haven, has said that is partly due to the defense sub-contractors for Pratt & Whitney, Electric Boat and Lockheed Martin.

However, Lauretti said if he elected he would try to boost manufacturing in Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and New Britain, which have experienced a decline in that category over the recent years.

On another topic, he said he’s not sure that adding a third casino in East Windsor, as the owners of Foxwoods in Ledyard and Mohegan Sun in Montville have proposed, will boost revenue for the state.

“How many casinos can Connecticut support?” Lauretti said. “The jury is still out on that.”

The Native American tribes have said they need the East Windsor venue to compete with the casino that will be opening in Springfield, Mass.

Regarding higher education, Lauretti said that there might be a need for consolidating the state’s public college system as it continues to decline in enrollment.

“We don’t need all of the UConn satellite campuses,” the mayor said.