By James Lomuscio
Today’s Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce (WWCC) event at the Westport Library had been billed as a post session wrap-up with area state legislators.
Connecticut’s yet-to-be completed budget was the main topic at today’s session at the Westport Library. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo
However, it was far from over since Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s $20 billion budget with about $1billion in cuts has yet to be passed.
Sen. Tony Hwang (R-28) and Sen. Toni Boucher (R-26) said that they had to convene in Hartford Thursday for a special session to work on and vote on the budget.
Rep. Johnathan Steinberg (D-136), Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-143) and Rep. John Shaban (R-135) said they would have to go back, too, but that it was uncertain when the House of Representatives would meet.
“The House still has no date,” Lavielle told a packed audience in the library’s McManus Room. “We are very concerned because we have to go into this knowing we have a budget deficit of $1 billion for next year.
“We need a budget that just doesn’t cut for the short term,” she added about the bi-annual budget.
Malloy’s proposed cuts, the legislators agreed, will have significal impact on education, social services and hospitals. Westport, for one, is expected to lose $1.1 million in education cost savings grants, as Malloy has targeted 28 of the state’s wealthiest school districts.
“There is a reason why the general public is losing trust in the government,” said Boucher. “This particular budget has draconian cuts to education, $1 million to Westport alone.”
Boucher said that if the state is serious about cutting, it should give municipalities relief from costly state mandates.
Steinberg, House majority whip and the lone Democrat on the dais at the forum sponsored by the WWCC and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), stressed that there was opposition to the budget from within his own party by moderates like himself.
“From the Democratic perspective, House Democrats rebelled against the budget as well,” said Steinberg. “I’m unsure how I am going to vote on this budget.”
Still, he conceded, “We have to have a budget, and we have to have it balanced.”
Hwang argued for “long term structural changes” in the way the state government conducts business.
“It’s a spending problem we have,” Hwang said. “It’s also how we govern. We don’t have the means to be everything to everyone. …The shredding of our safety net is unacceptable.”
That mindset was echoed by Steinberg later on when event moderator Matthew Mandell, WWCC executive director, brought up the subject of transportation.
“Transportation is a critical issue for Fairfield County,” Steinberg said, adding that Malloy has proposed a $100 billion transportation plan over the next 30 years.
Steinberg said the state must focus more on improving mass transit, restoring and maintaining infrastructure, and not on the extras, such as hiking and bicycle trails along major thoroughfares.
Regarding Malloy’s proposed budget cuts and the specter of increased taxes in years to come, Shaban said, “Our burn rate is too high.”
“We are collecting more state taxes that ever in history,” said Shaban, adding that the state has to make cuts within its 50,000 employees and to eliminate dual delivery services.
“That’s eighth grade math,” he added.
Boucher pointed out a demographic dilemma, saying 96,000 residents left the state in 2014 and only 82,000 moved in, most making too little to contribute to state income tax.
In other matters, Mandell brought the discussion close to home, asking what was being done at the state level regarding the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g.
Steinberg called it a serious issue for Westport, which has four 8-30g housing projects on the horizon. Boucher said that changes in the statute were needed to prevent, “predatory builders from exploiting that.”
Under the statute, builders can override local zoning laws if a town does not have 10 percent of its housing stock classified as affordable, which Westport does not.
