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04/19/2017 08:45 AMWith the state legislature gearing up for what is likely to be a grueling budget debate up in Hartford, State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-98) is asking for ideas and insight from Guilford residents via a Citizens Budget Workshop on Monday, April 24.
The goal of the workshop is to have residents talk with each other and Scanlon rather than just having a state representative talk at them, according to Scanlon. He said he hopes this workshop is an opportunity to talk about why the state has persistent budget deficits and figure out ways to solve the issue.
“The goal of this exercise is that I am going to present a document that is going to show people the different options that we can take to cut spending or increase spending for different programs,” he said. “And then the options that they have to raise revenues like new taxes or to do some structural changes to the budget.”
Scanlon said residents will have time to confer with one another in groups before presenting their ideas to the whole room. Scanlon said the options on the document include ideas from both Republicans and Democrats.
“[Marijuana] legalization will be on there, tolls will be on there, laying off state employees is on there, changing state employee benefits—the whole gamut is on there,” he said. “The goal is to present everyone with all different options.”
Scanlon said he wants to talk with residents about this issue now and not at the 11th hour before the legislature votes on the budget. As the budget process stands now, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released his proposed budget on Feb. 8 that includes a redistribution of state aid to municipalities, labor concessions, and a plan to have cities and towns cover one-third of the state’s teacher pensions.
Under the governor’s proposed budget, Guilford would see a close to $2.2 million reduction in state aid, with significant shifts in grant monies from programs such as the Town Aid Road Grant, Local Capital Improvement (LoCIP), Special Education, and Education Cost Sharing (ECS). The ECS grant, a program that serves as the state’s primary financial resource to help municipalities run their schools, has been completely zeroed out, taking the town’s total ECS grant from $2.7 million this fiscal year to nothing in the next.
Additionally, under the budget proposal, Guilford would pay a portion of the teacher pensions. For years, teachers have contributed six percent of their salary to their pension and the state has picked up the rest of the tab. However, with contribution rates on the rise and the system underfunded in its earlier years, the governor is looking to push one-third or $400 million of the contribution onto municipalities. For Guilford, that means a bill for $2,865,342.
However, the governor’s proposal merely kicks off the budget process. The legislature is expected to release their budget in late April, and then throughout the month of May legislators and the governor debate the budget before a final budget is voted in early June.
“I want to have this conversation now so that I have a good sense of where folks in my district are in terms of the budget and they can help me with this process,” said Scanlon. “I think it is a cool, interactive way to talk to people rather than talking at people.”
Scanlon said the workshop is open to the public and people only need to show up and be willing to engage in a discussion.
“My hope is that people, whether they agree with me or not, will come out and take part in this exercise,” he said. “My goal is to have young people sitting with seniors and Democrats sitting with Republicans and everyone working as one group to talk through the different options that we have in the state.”
The Citizens Budget Workshop is Monday, April 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Community Center, 32 Church Street.