Politics & Government
Resilient towns demonstrate a marked recovery from flood
Berthel concerned about Lamont's call for $300 million a year for child care costs
By Scott Benjamin
The town where he grew up and graduated from high school as well as two neighboring municipalities had been devastated by flooding.
It all had happened in just hours as summer was entering its final furlong.
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A federal declaration of emergency would be been signed by the White House.
“The recovery has been substantial,” state Sen. Eric Berthel now says regarding the developments since the August 18 flooding.
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
He adds that there is still work to be done in recovering from the waters that devastated Southbury, Oxford and Seymour – towns in his district – as well as other parts of Connecticut.
Berthel, who grew up in Southbury and graduated from Pomperaug High School, said it is remarkable what can happen when everybody makes a commitment to work together. He praised the resilience of the residents in those towns.
Neighbors sponsored food and clothing drives in the days following the disaster.
Berthel (R-32) of Watertown said the roads and bridges destroyed from the flooding have been restored.
“Kudos and congratulations to the DOT [state Department of Transportation],” he remarked in a phone interview with Patch.com.
Klarides Village in Seymour had water approaching its roof. Berthel said now all of the stores have re-opened.
The Southbury Library was washed out.
Berthel said that the library, which opened about 20 years ago, was “a model of what libraries should be. They are no longer just a repository for paper-bound books. They have technology and meeting space and activities are planned
The Heritage Inn has housed a temporary library over the recent months, and Berthel said that Southbury First Selectman Jeff Manville has told him that the town will restore the former library.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] no longer has offices in the district, although it is still processing claims.
“It took some time and hundreds of millions of dollars at the end of the day,” commented Berthel on the restorations.
Switching topics: Regarding Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D-Greenwich) proposed $55.2 billion biennial budget, Berthel said he is concerned about the governor’s plan to spend “300 million a year to provide child care for families that are below a certain income threshold. I’m not sure that is really the best use of $300 million.”
“I would like to know what the return on the investment is,” added Berthel, whose district includes parts of Bethel and Brookfield.
“Will we show $300 million in economic benefit [per year].Nobody has been able to provide me with any feedback,” he said regarding the possible impact of people being able to return to work since they now can afford child care.
“It’s great to be able to want to help people,” Berthel commented. “But if the return on the investment isn’t there, then we shouldn’t do it.”
Berthel said the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the General Assembly’s economic research arm, has indicated that over 10 years the proposed $300 million annual endowment for child care would result in a $3.6 billion increase in the cost on interest payments on the state’s pension debt as a result of money not being spent to further retire those expenses.
He remarked, “To me, that is a step in the wrong direction since we still have this widely huge pension liability.”
CT Mirror Budget Reporter Keith Phaneuf said during a League of Women Voters forum in Wilton in 2019 that the pensions for the state employees and the public-school teachers were each structurally under-funded each year from 1939 through 2010.
Berthel said that due to the fiscal guardrails that were enacted in 2017, the state has “made some incredible strides” in paying down the pension debt, which was tabbed by at 29 percent funded in the March 2018 report from the state Commission on Fiscal Stability & Economic Competitiveness.
There is a spending cap and a volatility cap, which steers capital gains revenue toward the rainy-day fund and pays down pension debt on the contracts for the state employees and the public-school teachers.
Berthel indicated that the governor’s proposed package also is about a $4 billion increase for the next two fiscal years in comparison with current spending.
“That is not necessarily the direction that we should be going in,” he declared.
He said he fears that the legislative Democrats – who have better than two-to-one majorities in each chamber – “will craft a budget that will do whatever they want to do” and will be even more expensive than Lamont’s proposal.
Berthel said since the guardrails were established eight years ago, the volatility cap has directed “billions of dollars” toward retiring part of the pension debt which also has saved the state “hundreds of millions of dollars in interest.”
He said that despite his objections to the governor’s proposed budget, he still has a good rapport with Lamont, noting that, among other things he responded promptly to assist the residents in the 32nd District recover from the flood damage.
“You can have a difference of opinion. You can call him out for things you don’t like. He remains likable and approachable,” Berthel commented. “He wants to have conversations. He wants to at least listen to what people have to say,
State Comptroller Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) has told John Dankosky of CT Mirror that the state should enact zero-based budgeting.
Said Berthel, “It is a plausible concept. Republicans have demonstrated that we wanted to do that for years.”
Can the state work force be further trimmed?
Former Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Essex) slashed 13.1 percent of the work force over his eight years in office from 2011 to 2019. Republican President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is making cuts to the federal work force.
Berthel said he doesn’t have enough information to make an evaluation.
However, there hasn’t been a major reorganization since 1977.
State Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury, the deputy speaker pro tempore, told Patch.com last December that he would support that step, noting that prior to the 1977 reorganization the state had not reorganized its bureaucracy since the 1930s.
Berthel commented, “I believe there should be a process by law that requires us to look at a reconciliation of state government functions and a reorganization, if necessary, on some regular schedule. I believe the legal issue as to why we cannot do this comes from a rule that does not allow a current legislature to bind a future legislature. The legislature would likely need to empower an Executive Branch office to conduct this review. Either way, it is worthy of a discussion.”
On another fiscal component, Berthel applauded state Treasurer Erick Russell for enacting a series of reforms that were recommended in a Yale study from two years ago that cited a series of poor investment policies that had cost Connecticut hundred of millions of dollars.
However, he said those alterations should be “codified” so it would be ensured that they would employed by future treasurers.
How will Trump’s efforts to slash grants to the states and reduce the federal work force impact Connecticut?
Berthel said no one knows “until we actually hear” what has been approved.
There is “chatter by some people,” he said. “It needs to stop.”
“This fear-mongering,” Berthel commented, referring, in particular to U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich) and Chris Murphy (D-Hartford). “It is way out of bounds.”
Ronni Newton of We-Ha,com reported that during a recent citizens forum in West Hartford that the two senators sponsored, Murphy said the economic elite are trying to “seize control of our government and we cannot let them get away with this.”
Berthel said that as of the moment “nothing specifically will happen to Connecticut” regarding federal funding.
On a separate subject, Ella Grasso ran for governor 51 years ago promising to lower electricity costs. The General Assembly approved a deregulation measure 27 years ago that supposedly was going to reduce rates by 10 percent. When Dannel Mally was running for governor 15 years ago he was telling audiences that Connecticut had the second highest electricity rates in the country.
The problem persists.
Remarked Berthel, “Every day I get phone calls and e-mail messages from constituents who can’t pay their electric bill.”
On February 19. Lamont apparently reached an agreement with legislative Democratic leaders to make the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) a quasi-public agency separate from the executive branch.
Regarding the change, Berthel said, “We need significantly more information about what the quasi-public structure of PURA would look like before I can provide an opinion. On the surface, quasi-public agencies in Connecticut like the CT Lottery and the Port Authority are outside of any real legislative oversight, which generally speaking is not a good idea.”
On another subject: Berthel said he has doubts about the potential effectiveness of ranked choice voting. Last year, Lamont appointed a study group to make recommendations ion the system in which voters select their top three candidates in order instead of just voting for one candidate under the conventional system.
Ranked-choice voting is currently used in Maine and 45 cities. Under the system, in primaries if none of the candidates has at least more than 50 percent of the vote the lowest candidate in the tally would be dropped and the votes for that candidate would be shifted from the first choice to the second choice.
Supporters have hailed it as a way to prompt candidates to push platforms that would less apt to be defined by the more extreme factions of the party. Ct Voters First, an organization supporting ranked-choice voting, has been running an ad at CT Mirror.
Berthel complained that there would be “a total lack of understanding and high level of confusion about how ranked-choice voting would work. It breaks the norms of how we elect people.”
Should the Connecticut Republicans adopt open primaries?
Government Professor Gary Rose at Sacred Heart University – who wrote a book in 2023 on the GOP in Connecticut – has said that the party has had small turnouts in their statewide primaries. He contends that over the last 15 years with open primaries, the GOP might have nominated, for example such hopefuls as Rob Simmons, Chris Shays, John McKinney, Mark Boughton and Themis Klarides – each of whom would probably have been more viable in the general election than the winner of those respective primaries.
Said Berthel, “I don’t know if open primaries would be better since there are apparent risks involved.”
He said it could be a method to “oust” incumbents by loading up “a bunch of people” who opposes their policies.
For now, Berthel said he is concentrating on issues being considered by the General Assembly before it adjourns its regular session.
Berthel said, “It’s a long time until June.”
However, he noted that spring is rapidly approaching.
The Quassy Amusement & Waterpark in Middlebury, in the heart of his district, is scheduled to open April 26.
Commented Berthel, “When that iconic park opens you know that it is spring.”
It will be time to ride one of the pretty, painted ponies on the Grand Carousel.
Resources:
Phone interview with Eric Berthel, Patch.com, on Monday, February 17, 2025.
E-mail interview with Eric Berthel, Patch.com, on Friday, February 21, 2025.
https://www.courant.com/2025/0...
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/new-treasurer-scores-victory
https://patch.com/connecticut/...
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/connecticut-s-wealthy-can-afford-pay-more-taxes
