Is New London Getting Shortchanged By The State?

Connecticut’s 169 municipalities have gotten little increased financial help from the state in the last five years and remain overly dependent on state aid, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities says.

CCM, the main lobbying group for local communities, released a bulletin Monday to candidates for the state’s General Assembly urging them to make education funding a priority in the coming year, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

In New London, the City Council will meet Thursday to consider a revised $41.4 million municipal budget and tax rate of 26.6 mills after voters rejected a $42.3 million budget and tax rate of 27.22 mills. The revised tax rate is a 5.1 percent tax increase.

Mayor Daryl Finizio and some members of the City Council have said the main reason for the budget increase is to correct for revenue shortfalls. One major reduction was a distressed municipality grant from the state, which was budgeted for $2.2 million in 2012 and $1.6 million in 2013.

State aid for towns overall stands at about $3 billion per year, while Connecticut’s 169 towns collectively raise about $9 billion annually from local property taxes, James Finley, CCM’s executive director, told the Mirror. State aid to towns has remained relatively flat over the last five years. When you factor in the rate of inflation, that means towns have actually lost financial ground during that five-year period, Finley added.

The state aid figures represent an over-dependence by towns on local property taxes, something the General Assembly should address by closing shortfalls in education funding to towns, Finley said.

"The key to property tax relief is education finance reform," Finley told the Mirror. "The overdependence on the property tax is unsustainable, and hometown Connecticut is in desperate need of revenue assistance."