From: The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. (FCTO)
Contact: Susan
Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
email: fctopresident@aol.com
860-841-8032
September 1, 2008
We pay Special Recognition to
Newington Mayor Jeff Wright
for his efforts to
reform Newington’s
Charter to require
an automatic
budget referendum if the Town Council
calls for a
property-tax increase above 3 percent!
Welcome to
Tax Talk 122
Included in Tax Talk 122:
- Newington:
Charter Revision OKs budget process change
- Connecticut Faces a School Tax Revolt by Lew
Andrews
- Connecticut:
Tab for state employees rising
- State of Connecticut Labor Contracts on Web
- Members: Unions still going strong
- A Steal Of A Deal
- EPA's Sluggish Response
- Corruption Probe Turns To Hartford
Councilwoman
NEWINGTON: Charter Revision OKs budget process change By
MARYELLEN APELQUIST, Journal Register News Service, 08/31/2008
NEWINGTON - With the Charter Revision
Commission's tentative approval of a plan for an annual budget referendum,
Mayor Jeff Wright is one step closer to making good on the three-point pledge
that he and his fellow Newington
Republicans campaigned on in 2007. According to the mayor's proposal, a budget
referendum will be held if the Town Council calls for a property-tax increase
above 3 percent. If a proposed tax increase fails twice at referendum, the tax
would be capped at 3 percent. As the charter is written now, the council adopts
a budget after holding two public hearings.
"Politicians have to sell [a tax increase]. If they fail to sell it
to the people, the tax increase will be a maximum of 3 percent," Wright
said Tuesday. "People are looking to have a larger say in government
spending and their taxes. ... This is a movement that's happening across the
country." The full story is continued on FCTO website, on the left,
under TOWN CHARTERS and LOCAL BUDGETS.
It can also be access at the following web link…. http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=20099460&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=594835&rfi=8
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Connecticut Faces a School Tax Revolt
By LEWIS M. ANDREWS, August 23, 2008; Page A9
On June 30, the board of
education and the town council in Enfield,
Conn., convened to hear the
results of a citizen cost-cutting committee. Among its other recommendations,
the 17 residents recommended replacing some public school teachers with
low-cost college interns, restricting the use of school vehicles, and
increasing employee contributions to benefit plans. ….. Over the past two
and a half decades, the student population in Connecticut has increased only 10%. Yet the
cost of schooling more than doubled -- to $8.8 billion in 2006, up from $3.4
billion in 1981. The full story is continued on FCTO website, on the left,
under EDITORIALS. It can also be access
at the following web link….
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944926645165231.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
The Federation offered the
following on the aforementioned in the comment section of the article …. http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=3802
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations (FCTO) takes this opportunity to compliment Mr. Andrews on his
excellent article. FCTO has been
challenging the State of Connecticut’s
Binding Arbitration and Prevailing Wage Laws for years. Mike Guarco is to be
commended for all he has accomplished with bringing elected officials from 117
CT towns together to oppose these cost driven mandates. As the Mayor of East Hartford, CT,
I stood alone in this challenge from 1989 to 1993, and while on the town
council for 8 years. Hopefully, in 2009,
the elected officials from the 117 towns will join together, at the Capitol in Hartford, to protest Binding Arbitration and Prevailing
Wage laws which have placed Connecticut
on the map as having one of the highest property taxes in the nation. At minimum, all 117 elected officials should
appear before the State legislature at Public Hearings on these laws as their
input, as elected officials, could be the catalyst for change. The Federation has determined that
approximately 85% of all property taxes in the 169 towns in Connecticut pay for personnel related
expenses to include wage increases, pensions, healthcare, workers comp,
etc. Some pensions exceed base pay as
overtime is factored in. The 85%
percentage figure is guaranteed to increase as towns and states throughout the
nation are required, under The Governmental Accounting Standards Board, to
disclose and carry on their books the taxpayers’ financial obligation to
retired town and board of education employees for healthcare and life
insurance, which has helped to drive Connecticut’s debt to $49 billion. Susan Kniep, President, The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, email:
fctopresident@aol.com , Website: http://ctact.org/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944926645165231.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
********************
CONNECTICUT: Tab
for state employees rising
By Keith M. Phaneuf, Journal Inquirer
….. the 800-pound gorilla that
remains largely unnoticed in the room is the nearly $6 billion in next year’s
budget dedicated to state employee salaries and fringe benefits. Nearly
one-third of that $18.41 billion plan will be spent on state workers, retirees,
and their families — and on the statewide teachers pension plan — providing
benefits many legislators argue far exceed those offered in the private sector.
At first glance, devoting one-third of the budget to salaries and benefits
might not seem overly burdensome. But
once a few big-ticket items not tied to state jobs are removed — such as $3.7
billion for Medicaid benefits, $2.7 billion for town grants, and $1.8 billion
for debt service — employee compensation represents more than half of the
remaining budget picture. The full story is continued on FCTO website, on the left,
under UNIONS and STATE - BUDGET. It can
also be access at the following web link….
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2008/06/12/connecticut/doc484ff8f1c34fa020518071.txt
********************
State of Connecticut Labor
Contracts
The Office of Labor Relations (OLR) serves as the
Governor’s designated representative, through the Secretary of OPM, for
collective bargaining matters for state employees. The following website will take you to the
current contracts for 13 of the State employee
bargaining units in the executive branch.
http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2992&q=383228&opmNav_GID=1792
********************
Members:
Unions still going strong
By SCOTT WHIPPLE, New
Britain Herald staff, 09/01/2008
……. Faced with a declining union membership, the AFL-CIO this
weekend launched a nationwide drive to put the full force of its 10.5 million
members and nearly 3 million union retirees behind winning "secure,
high-quality health care" for everyone by 2009….. In the bordering state
of Massachusetts
only 13 percent of the state's residents were union members in 2007, compared
with about 25 percent in the late 1970s. According to the Boston Globe, this
reflects a national trend created by the loss of manufacturing jobs, the
deregulations of unionized industries, and the rise of anti-union companies
like Wal-Mart. Overall consensus about the AFL-CIO's declining power is that
this and other unions lack the "oomph" they used to have. The full story is continued on FCTO website, on the left,
under UNIONS and can also be access at the following web link…. http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20100095&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10109&rfi=
********************
Is your Local Budgets benefitting from ….
A Steal Of A Deal, Hartford Courant, Korky Vann, August 29, 2008
J. P. Bellomo sells stolen stuff on the Internet…. .. he's the CEO of
PropertyRoom.com, a unique and legitimate online auction site that markets
stolen and seized goods for law enforcement agencies. ….. Police departments contract with
PropertyRoom.com to pick up, store and sell confiscated goods that can't be
returned to rightful owners…… Ansonia, Bethel, East Hartford, Derby, Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, New Haven, New London, Simsbury, Torrington, Vernon, West Hartford and Willimantic use
PropertyRoom.com to liquidate stolen goods.
The
full story is continued on FCTO website, on the left, under BUDGETS -
LOCAL. It can also be access at the
following web link…. http://www.courant.com/features/style/hc-propertyroom.artaug29,0,648966.story
********************
EPA's Sluggish Response
Wednesday 27 August 2008, by: Hartford Courant | Editorial
….
Pesticides known as pyrethrins and pyrethroids, long considered
"safe," have exploded in popularity over the past 10 years.
Unfortunately, so has the number of reported poisonings from exposures to these
chemicals. Continued at the following website:
http://www.truthout.org/article/epas-sluggish-response
********************
Corruption Probe Turns To Hartford
Councilwoman
By JEFFREY B.
COHEN, EDMUND H. MAHONY And
STEVEN GOODE | Courant Staff Writers August 28, 2008
….. State
investigators Wednesday morning arrived at the Ridgefield Street home of Republican city
Councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson with a search
warrant, apparently interested in granite counters installed by Carlos Costa —
the same contractor whose work on Mayor Eddie A. Perez's home sparked the
investigators' interest a year ago, sources said. The full story is continued on FCTO website, on the left,
under the heading HALL OF SHAME, CORRUPTION ABOUNDS, where you will
find additional reports involving Corruption.
It can also be access at the following web link…. Continued http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-grandjury0828.artaug28,0,5883494.story
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