Millions Earmarked For Manchester Initiatives In State Budget

MANCHESTER, CT — Members of the Manchester Legislative Delegation are applauding what its members termed "the inclusion of significant funds to benefit Manchester initiatives" in the state budget.

It's millions of dollars.

The contingent includes House Majority Leader Jason Rojas (D – East Hartford, Manchester), State Reps. Geoff Luxenberg (D – Manchester), Jason Doucette (D – Glastonbury, Manchester) and Jeff Currey (D – East Hartford, Manchester, South Windsor), and State Sen. Steve Cassano (D – Manchester).

On Monday, the House of Representatives voted to approve the budget proposal and sent it to the Senate.

Manchester projects earmarked for funding include:

• $5.5 million for planning and building a new public library
• $980,303 through the state's Payment in Lieu of Local Property Taxes, or PILOT, program
• $41,130,988 for the Manchester public schools, plus "millions more in new money" to offset the town's share of costs for Manchester students at magnet schools
• $100,000 to support the Pathfinders Association
• $27,811,640 for the renovation of Keeney Elementary School, an amount that reflects a reimbursement rate of 83.77 percent and should address any increased construction costs

The state budget includes a motor vehicle tax rate cap reduction from 45 mills to 32.46 mills. Manchester will receive an estimated reimbursement of $1,712,853 for revenue loss because of the mill rate cap, according to the budget.

In 2021, the 21st Century Public Library Task Force recommended that Manchester build a new library after an expansion of the Mary Cheney Library was deemed unfeasible. The current square footage of the town's two libraries — 26,135 at Mary Cheney and 12,367 at the Whiton Branch — limits the ability to offer robust and simultaneous programs for patrons, officials have said.

Among its other recommendations, the task force said that Manchester's main library needs to be three times the square footage of Mary Cheney with adequate parking, flexible space design for multipurpose uses, private and group meeting and workspaces, and sustainable "green" design with efficient building systems.

Here's how the legislative contingent reacted:

Rojas: "The state budget that we passed makes key investments in our community and our residents. I am particularly pleased to see funding for our magnet schools included. This budget will go a long way to enhancing resources and shaping our future. I would like to thank Toni Walker, House Chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Sean Scanlon, House Chair of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee for their efforts to draft a state budget that continues to meet the moment for our state."

Luxenberg: "I have been working to make sure Manchester has a top-notch library system since I secured nearly $500,000 in bond funding to save the Whiton Branch in the north end from closing plus modernized and made it ADA accessible about 10 years ago. Now, we have delivered $5.5 million to construct a new main library in Manchester to meet the programmatic and educational needs across the entire community. It will also create local jobs and is a major savings to our taxpayers who will not have foot the bill with local property tax dollars."

Currey: "In the second year of the biennial state budget, we had the opportunity to make fiscal adjustments to better meet local needs and provide vital funding to all public schools through the adoption of a student-centered funding formula. While the administration did not support these efforts, this budget increases support for our districts' public schools and makes key investments to offset the ever-increasing cost of tuition at area schools of choice. The state budget will help stabilize local education budgets to ensure students in every community have the supports they need to succeed. Thank you to the House Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Toni Walker, and the House Chair of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, Sean Scanlon, for their work developing this budget."

Doucette: "I am proud to join my colleagues in support of a budget that brings home so many worthy specific funding items directed for Manchester. After hearing input from town and school officials and from constituents about urgent and pressing needs in Manchester, we got to work to help find the needed funding. I am grateful to my colleagues in the delegation as well as the House Appropriations and Finance Chairs for helping make it happen."

Cassano: "I'm very happy to have the strong working relationship I have with the House. Together, having both chambers working as one, Manchester truly benefits from this budget we've worked hard to develop and pass."