Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

WELCOME TO THE 21st EDITION OF

TAX TALK

Your update on what others are thinking, doing, and planning
Send your comments or questions to me, and
I will include in next week's publication.

Please note that TAX TALK is now on our Website

Thank you to all who contributed to TAX TALK this week. Several interesting articles follow to include the

State Ethics Should Comprise Citizen Groups
Tactics Often Used to Form and Sell Budgets
CCM Endorses Changes to Binding Arbitration,
January 15 Minutes of FCTO Meeting

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO
INCLUDE IN NEXT WEEK'S PUBLICATION?
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Marvin Edelman, frogpond01@earthlink.net
Windham Taxpayers Association
Subject: State Ethics Should Comprise Citizen Groups
Dear Susan: I am very sorry that I could not attend the last meeting. Please let me know what took place and where we are headed. I caught the broadcast on January 23 of the hearing of the Government Administration and Election Committee regarding reform of the state ethics code. A major speaker was Rep. Demetrios Giannaros of Farmington. He is calling for the appointment to the Ethics Commission of people who represent citizens' groups rather than the usual political and lawyer members. I think FCTO in your person or someone should be considered. Our recommendations in Windham for charter revision are being shot down, as expected, by our clueless local leadership.Best wishes. Marvin.
Susan Kniep will contact Rep. Giannaros
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Peter Arcidiacono, PJArcidiacono@aol.com
Common Sense, East Hampton
Subject: Tactics Often Used to Form and Sell Budgets
A special thank you to Peter for providing us with a wonderful "resource that can be used to become aware of (and be armed to counter) tactics sometimes used by officials as they form and try to sell their proposed budgets." This document can be found on FCTO's website, ctact.org, under Budgets-Local.
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Susan Kniep,
President of FCTO
Subject: Binding Arbitration and January 15 FCTO Meeting
FCTO's efforts to revise Binding Arbitration Reform are yielding results. The following is a proposal adopted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. We continue to encourage municipalities to pass our Binding Arbitration Resolution and I will be reporting on the status of this endeavor very shortly. I have also included a copy of the Minutes of FCTO's most recent meeting.

CCM's Binding Arbitration Reform Proposal

Modify state-mandated compulsory Municipal Employee Relations Act (MERA) and the Teacher Negotiation Act (TNA) by (a) providing that when a local legislative body rejects an arbitrated award by a two-thirds vote, the contract goes back to negotiation, as it does under the arbitration statute for state employees, rather than going to a second, final and binding arbitration panel, and (b) allowing local legislative bodies to reject stipulated board of education-teacher collective bargaining agreements. Stipulated agreements are voluntary agreements between boards of education and teachers within the arbitration process that are then incorporated into awards. There are thus no "last best offers" from each side on the issues that were previously at impasse, and therefore no ability for local legislative bodies to reject these awards and require a second arbitration on these issues.

Minutes of January 15, 2004 FCTO Meeting

On January 15, 2004, The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. held a meeting at 740 Main Street, East Hartford. The meeting began at 7 PM and in attendance were Jack Walton of Oakville-Watertown, Flo Stahl of Avon, Walt Grunder of Glastonbury, Pat Spring of Berlin, John McIntosh of Berlin, Ed Kardus of Wethersfield, Bob Young of Wethersfield, Jim Mathias of East Hampton, Ed Stedman of Monroe and Susan Kniep of East Hartford. (Several members could not attend due to the weather)

Prevailing Wage Policy Statement
A motion was made by Flo Stahl, and seconded by Jim Mathias, to sign the Prevailing Wage Policy Statement on behalf of FCTO calling for a Blue Ribbon Commission to study the merit of prevailing wage law reform.   Suggestions were made for grammatical improvements to the Statement which Susan Kniep will relay to the Coalition pursuing the Prevailing Wage Issue.   The Coalition includes Chambers of Commerce throughout the State, CCM, and others concerned for the high costs of construction due to the Prevailing Wage law. Susan Kniep indicated that periodic updates on this issue will be noted under the Prevailing Wage category on FCTO's website.

Membership Drive
Susan requested that each attendee solicit at least two new taxpayer groups, inform them of FCTO, direct them to our website and determine what their three primary concerns are. She requested that their names and telephone numbers be provided to her.

FCTO 2004 Meetings
Following a brief discussion, it was agreed that FCTO would meet during the months of January, March, May, July, Sept and November at 740 Main Street in East Hartford. Susan will schedule these meetings to occur mid month, Thursday evenings, 7 PM to 9 PM.   It was also suggested that FCTO members who are holding their own taxpayer group meetings, invite Susan to offer a brief presentation on FCTO.   Susan will plan on attending the April 15 meeting in East Hampton and a May meeting in New Haven. Others are encouraged to notify Susan when their meetings are scheduled.

FCTO 2004 Issues Agenda
Everyone concurred that although there are many taxpayer related issues to be addressed, it would be in FCTO interest to direct our energy to: Binding Arbitration, Prevailing Wage, Smart Growth, Unfunded Mandates, and School Vouchers.    Flo Stahl referenced her taxpayer group's success in compiling and disseminating salary information on Avon Town and Board of Education employees. She will provide a brief summary of their efforts for the benefit of other tax groups who may wish to assemble similar information in their respective towns.   Ed Stedman suggested that a policy be considered for FCTO to support an independent audit of local Board of Education funds whenever a Superintendent leaves office.

MarketingCampaign
Attendees were given copies of FCTO brochures to be distributed within local libraries, senior centers, etc. Again, it was suggested that Susan Kniep appear on local cable shows and at taxpayer meetings to bring public awareness to FCTO.   Susan asked that she be notified when taxpayer meetings are scheduled and requested that members facilitate her appearance on local cable shows.

Status Binding Arbitration Responses
Susan will construct and disseminate a follow up to FCTO's September Binding Arbitration letter to the 169 towns requesting budgetary information and the passage of the Binding Arbitration resolution. She requested that those in attendance inform her of 3 towns they would be willing to contact to facilitate the generation of this information, and to also provide her with the names of others who might be willing to work on this project. Susan will be providing an excel spreadsheet denoting the status of the generation of this information per town.    Susan will also pursue obtaining whatever information may be available through CCM.

Financial Report
Flo Stahl and Jim Mathias agreed to audit FCTO's financial records in accordance with FCTO bylaws. Treasurer Bernie Roy will be asked to provide them with the necessary documentation.

The meeting adjourned around 9:30 PM.