Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

The "cook the books" scheme by Enron and the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen went undetected by government officials who had been blinded to the company's meltdown by Enron's glitzy campaign money machine.   Who knew that clandestine conspiracies were running amuck among the corporate elite who were inflating profits and siphoning of millions? Who knew that lost jobs, lost pensions, and lost savings would be thrown into the boiling pot of stew as the books were being cooked?   Not the Enron employees! Not the Enron stockholders! Not the Connecticut taxpayers who lost $220 million in the Enron-CRRA deal because Connecticut elected officials failed to provide oversight or worse.     Yet, the Enron debacle of yesterday is not unlike what's going on in your State government today.

A stew is definitely brewing on the hill in Hartford. Our Governor and State Reps may not be cooking the books, but they certainly kept the lid on the pot until after the November election.   State politicos were very careful not to rattle the media grapevine until they were guaranteed a safe return to their taxpayer financed luxury chairs on the hill in Hartford. Then and only then did they disclose that the State was in such fiscal chaos that they intended to pepper the stew with hard-to-swallow taxes and force it down the taxpayers' throats. But again, who knew? After all, the Governor and our State Reps had been promoting every multi million dollar taxpayer funded project in the State. The Uconn Stadium in East Hartford, Adrieans Landing in Hartford and projects in Waterbury and Bridgeport, all carried a hefty price tag and have contributed to giving Connecticut the distinction of having the highest bonded debt and paying the highest taxes in the nation.    This year we paid $600 million in interest on our $13 billion debt, which is almost equal to our State budget of $13.2 billion.

In the year 2000, the state's Office of Fiscal Analysis advised that "state government could be facing an $88 million general fund deficit two fiscal years from now". Instead of heeding this message, State elected officials went on a spending spree with taxpayer money and failed to impose greater oversight on government spending. The result included lucrative union contracts, greater costs for State Commissioners and Project Managers, a loss of $220 million in the CRRA-Enron debacle, and the disbursement of millions of taxpayer dollars in unlimited corporate welfare to companies with no responsibility of public disclosure of their financial stability.

Heads of taxpayer financed State quasi-public agencies took bonuses which resulted in their salaries jumping in one year from $131,465 to $228,123 and another from $127,019 to $197,912.   Of 28 major State agencies, the total cost of salaries and fringe benefits for politically appointed commissioners, deputy commissioners, executive assistants, and durational project managers jumped from $7.2 million in 1994 to $16.3 million in 2002.

The concern for State employee job loss by the Governor and State Reps is admirable.   Yet, private sector employees hold the record for longevity in the unemployment line. We have yet to see the Governor or State Reps standing outside the doors of Aetna or Cigna or any private company and expressing their sympathy to laid off employees or attempting to provide a safety net.

During the past few weeks, The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. has directed letters to Governor Rowland and State Representatives telling them not to balance the budget on the backs of the taxpayers. We asked for changes in State Binding Arbitration Laws.   If they will not abolish Binding Arbitration, then we expect them to bring the negotiation tables in all local and State union contracts out from behind the closed doors of secrecy and into the light of public debate.   Locally, 70% to 90% of taxpayer financed municipal budgets pay for government personnel related salary expenses. Government salaries, healthcare and pensions are disproportionate to the private sector. Where some private pension plans have been infected with Enronitis, some government employees are retiring with hefty pensions.

In East Hartford, police officers can assume retirement status for five years prior to full retirement. While working they collect their full paycheck while concurrently having 96% of their pension deposited into a savings account. With police pensions at $50,000, $60,000 or $70,000 a year, at the end of five years, they could walk away with a check for $350,000.

Connecticut taxpayers pay approximately $4 billion annually for State taxpayer financed healthcare for a select few.   This includes $297 million for State Employees healthcare and $155 million for State retirees.   Of course, we also pay for the healthcare of our part-time State Reps. But we apparently are not paying enough. This year, state unions took taxpayers to court to get control of a $100 million stock distribution. Many Connecticut taxpayers have no health insurance.

The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. is working to convince our government officials that the only special interest they should be listening to is the one from whom they draw their financial resources�THE TAXPAYERS! And we, the taxpayers, cannot afford a tax increase!