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10/10/2018 08:00 AMRepublican Dave Yaccarino has held North Haven’s District 87 state representative seat for eight years. Also the owner of Lincoln Street business DJ Comics, in Hartford he serves on the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee and boasts a 100 percent voting record.
Yaccarino discussed several issues he’d like to address if elected to a fifth term.
Yaccarino says that the problem with the state’s infrastructure is not caused by a lack of revenue, but by improper allocation of state funds. He opposes the current proposal to return to tolls.
“We need to prioritize the money we receive for roads and bridges. We’re the second-highest gas tax in the country…Anything with petroleum, there’s an extra embedded tax,” Yaccarino said. “We collect all this money, but enough of it doesn’t go to roads and bridges.”
According to Yaccarino, funds raised by the proposed tolls are estimated to create $600 million for the state and would be too great an expense for the taxpayer.
“The facts are truckers pay a lot of money, they pay millions of dollars for each state,” he said.
Since he was elected to this position, Yaccarino said his priority has been and will continue to be “jobs, sustainable high paying jobs.”
Recently, SB-266, a bioscience bill that provides tax incentives to investors in bioscience companies and that Yaccarino co-sponsored, was signed into law. The bill is intended to sustain and foster a bioscience industry in Connecticut, which would offer long lasting, high paying jobs.
“Bioscience [and] the manufacturing bills we passed last year will help North Haven. Every job helps the next job,” he said.
He also applauds the work done by First Selectmen Mike Freda and others in attracting the Amazon warehouse to North Haven.
“Having a fair tax code, strong education system, strong public safety—that brings companies and people to a community. And that’s what we have in North Haven,” he said. “But there’s always room for improvement.”
Yaccarino believes that improvements like these begin with a strong budget and proper funding at the state level.
“We didn’t have a tax increase the last two years. We fully funded education, we fully funded municipal aid, we fully funded roads and bridges, we fully funded Medicare savings for seniors, the regional fire school that the governor cut,” he said. “Next year we are going to be in deficit, unfortunately, but it’s going to take both parties to come together.”
He says that Connecticut’s past policies have hurt the state’s economic growth.
“Connecticut is one of the few states that’s lost population…since we instated the income tax. We’ve lost population and we lose jobs,” he said.
If re-elected, Yaccarino seeks to continue his work on the Finance Committee to create more jobs for the state.
“I’m proud of taking care of people, working hard. My strongest point is really fighting for people, getting things done,” he said.