February 5, 2013
From: The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
Tomorrow, Feb
6, Governor Malloy Will Release His Budget!
How Much State
Aid Will Your Town Receive?
The Federation
Offers the following Compilation of
State Aid to CT Municipalities from 2005 to 2012
How Did Your
Town Compare with Others?
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Aimed to
Kill As
we continue to debate the issue of firearms throughout the country and in
Connecticut following the massacre of 20 children and 6 educators by a shooter
who used a Bushmaster .223 semiautomatic
rifle with multiple high-capacity magazines and as recently noted within
articles such as Connecticut gun makers quietly fighting gun control and Handgun Permitting Process Debated By Lawmakers, Police
Chiefs, another issue, which is sure
to draw controversy, is DOJ
white paper lays legal basis for drones targeting US citizens. The Hill reports: The
Department of Justice has developed a white paper outlining the specific
circumstances under which the United
States can conduct a lethal drone strike
against an American citizen, a copy of which was obtained Monday by NBC News. The paper provides the first detailed look
at the criteria the Obama administration uses to judge if it can legally kill
American citizens traveling abroad without the benefit of due process. The
release of the administration's legal rationale comes days before CIA nominee
John Brennan is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Panel members, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), have been pressing the
administration on the issue for more than a year. Continue reading this article
at http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/281069-doj-white-paper-on-killer-drones-and-us-citizens-abroad
Today, The Hill also announced Obama seeks $5T European trade deal noting: The Obama administration is poised to launch trade
talks with the European Union that would form a $5 trillion trans-Atlantic
free-trade zone. European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will meet
with Obama administration officials Tuesday and Wednesday to work toward
announcing the talks, which many observers expect could happen this week.
Such a time frame would give President Obama a chance to tout progress in next
week’s State of the Union address. “The business community will be deeply
disappointed if it’s not announced by then or, at least, by mid-February,”
Stephen Biegun, vice president of international governmental affairs for Ford,
told The Hill. A free-trade agreement between the U.S. and European Union would boost trade by
hundreds of billions of dollars, according to the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.Just as importantly, it could allow the two powers to set
new standards for trade deals going forward in a rapidly globalizing world
where China, India and Brazil are increasingly flexing
their muscles.
Turning to another lethal weapon
used by the government which is killing the finances and stability of American families
throughout the country - especially in Connecticut where we are Taxed to the
Max - tomorrow, Wednesday, February 6, Governor Malloy will release his Budget
for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015.
Although the Governor is tight lipped as to what we can
expect, here is what we know so far as news outlets scrutinize not only the budget
in noting governor malloy wants 2 billion for
uconn - Courant.com and Malloy proposes ECS increase, coy on other town aid but they raise two other interesting issues involving the
Governor. First, as it pertains to the
budget, according to CTMirror.org “Gov. Dannel P. Malloy continued his budget
preview tour Tuesday, sharing his plan to boost the state's major education
grant to cities and towns by nearly $153 million over the next two fiscal
years, with nearly all the increase earmarked for low-achieving schools.” The second
involves the past practices of Governor Malloy as the former Mayor of Stamford
and the Stamford sewage treatment plant, and the third, his recent controversial
nominee of a Superior Court Judge who is the daughter of a former State
Democrat Chairman as highlighted within the following articles.
Yesterday, Neena Satija of CTMirror.org (http://ctmirror.org/)
offered the first of a two part series in her article captioned Striving for innovation, spending millions, leaders ignored
major problems in which she noted
the following: This is the first of two
parts examining the Stamford sewage treatment plant's long history of problems,
the financial implications for local residents and environmental consequences
for the entire state. In the
summer of 2010, residents in the Shippan neighborhood began complaining of
strong, unpleasant smells wafting through their open windows and into their
cars. They live near the city's marinas and just to the south of its sewage
treatment plant……… After borrowing millions of dollars from the city for
immediate repairs in recent years, the WPCA is likely to require millions
more, and it has no money on hand for emergencies. State environmental
officials say the agency will likely have to remedy that with a significant
increase in user rates……..Critics say that while
Malloy, Barnes and Brown spent years and millions of dollars planning the
project, known as "Waste-to-Energy" or "Stamford Biogas,"
they ignored the real issue: The plant was malfunctioning regularly, costing
the city, its harbor and Long Island Sound dearly.
"Waste-to-Energy. This was the big thing," said Louis Casale,
who was on the WPCA board for about 10 years and left the chairmanship and the
board in late 2011. "...We had no
idea, at least I had no idea," he said, "that things at the plant
were literally falling down around us."
Read the complete article at http://www.ctmirror.org/story/18458/long-after-upgrade-stamfords-sewage-plant-still-disrepair
Today, Neena Satija offered Part II of her report which
is captioned Stamford's failed attempt at energy innovation cost taxpayers
tens of millions noting: Plagued by
mismanagement, faulty equipment and a botched $105 million upgrade, Stamford's
Water Pollution Control Authority has come under fire for sending hundreds of
millions of gallons of sewage into Long Island Sound in recent years. Part of the problem was that three top city officials -- the mayor,
who is now Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy; his aide, Ben Barnes, now the
state's budget chief; and the sewage plant's longtime director, Jeanette Brown,
who resigned in 2011 -- were focused on an exciting new technology that aimed
to turn waste into energy. Unfortunately, their plan had a few glitches. Read the complete article at http://ctmirror.org/story/18930/advanced-technology-if-it-worked
In the
article published Jan 30, 2013 captioned Judicial Nominee At Center Of Shoreline “Gifting” Case by Marcia Chambers of the Branford Eagle she highlights how
the Branford Eagle helped to expose a gifting table scheme which is now the
focus of a federal trial at which Governor Malloy’s Superior Court Judge
nominee may testify. The reporter notes
that the nominee is the daughter of a former Democrat State Chairman, who with
his daughter, “served as Branford’s town attorneys between 2005 and 2007 during
former First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris’s term. “The firm has also been sued by
the town of Branford
for malpractice in 2008. “ That lawsuit is still pending with trial
expected to begin in June.” The Branford
article is worth reading in its entirety at http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/branford/entry/marcus_law_firm_at_center_of_gifting_tables_case/
Today, the Hartford wrote Judge Nominee Denies She Had Interest In ... - Hartford
Courant noting: A lawyer nominated to become a state Superior
Court judge testified Monday in the "gifting tables" federal fraud
case, denying she had an interest in joining what the government calls a
pyramid-style financial conspiracy and defending the legal advice she provided
to two defendants amid charges that it was inadequate. Shelley Marcus testified she never advised
the defendants to stop their participation, nor did she edit the gifting-tables
guidelines as previous witnesses had suggested.
The article is continued at http://articles.courant.com/2013-02-04/news/hc-gifting-tables-day-8-20130204_1_gifting-tables-jill-platt-donna-bello
As we await the news of the Governor’s budget to be released
tomorrow, Budget battle lines being drawn over power plant tax
as noted by Keith
M. Phaneuf of CTMirror.org. in
which he writes: The first battle lines of the next state budget may have been
drawn Thursday around a tax on Connecticut's
power plants set to expire in June. Eleven legislators -- including 10 of Gov.
Dannel P. Malloy's fellow Democrats -- called for the electricity generation
tax to expire as planned. Backed by officials from several business coalitions,
they argued that continuing the tax would drive up electricity rates, send a
dangerous message to businesses and threaten the economic future of one
southeastern Connecticut
community.
The Day of New London in their
article captioned The Day - Legislators concerned about spiraling state pension
...Obligations. notes: State pension costs increased more than 580 percent in the
past 20 years, to $900 million annually from $130 million annually, while Connecticut's population has increased only 9 percent,
the Connecticut
Business & Industry Association reported on Wednesday. Union contracts and
state employee perks need to be evaluated again, said state Rep. Diana Urban,
D-North Stonington, a member of the Appropriations Committee. "I think we
need to get people to come back to the table," Urban said Wednesday.
Health benefit costs for state employee retirees increased more than 980
percent in that 20-year span, to $640 million annually from $60 million
annually, according to the association's report. The article continues at http://www.theday.com/article/20130124/NWS12/301249540/1070/SPORT10
In addition to unrealistic pension benefits promised to
public sector employees/retirees which are becoming unsustainable throughout
the country, promised Health insurance benefits for public sector retirees are also
negatively impacting municipal and state budgets. Page 33 of the State of Connecticut’s latest Fiscal Accountability Report - CT.gov notes the State’s Long Term Debt Totals $66.1 Billion which
includes State Employee Post Retirement Health and Life- Unfunded at $17.9
Billion and Teachers Post Retirement Health and Life – Unfunded at $3.0
Billion.
Recently, Steve Malanga who frequently writes on public
sector contracts wrote an article captioned Retiree healthcare solution: Let Obamacare pay for it!!! -
Public ... noting: Last week I wrote about a report that called Chicago's pledge to
subsidize the health insurance premiums of retired city workers unsustainable.
The article is continued at http://www.publicsectorinc.com/forum/2013/01/retiree-health-care-solution-let-obamacare-pay-for-it.html
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The following headline
by the Federation provides a
compilation of previous articles on the State of our State
Legislators Concerned for Rising State Pension Obligations
Therein, links to articles include:
Speaker Focuses On Property Taxes; Malloy Looks For
Efficiencies,
Avoiding a Cliff of Our Own - CBIA
Connecticut's December Jobs Report: 'Economy Stuck in
Neutral'
Do You Live In A Death Spiral State? - Forbes.
Economist: Connecticut's Real Jobless Rate At 14.4 Percent |
CT ...
With Public Sector Unions Accounting for the greatest expenditure of taxpayer dollars,
you may find the following websites of interest:
http://www.publicsectorinc.org/
http://pensiontsunami.com/
http://unionwatch.org/about/
Refer to http://ctact.org/ for Previous Publications