Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Please refer to the following website for an article focusing on The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations and affiliated Taxpayer Groups. Congratulations to Flo Stahl of Avon, Donna McCalla of Hebron and Orsini of Wethersfield.

http://www.whitepublishing.com/Current%20Issue/Main_Current_Issues.html

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Again, we thank, Donna McCalla of Hebron Dollars & Sense who is doing an outstanding job on compiling information on tax and budget proposals and adoptions by the towns and cities throughout Connecticut.� Please refer to her comments below and the attachment which should be opened in Excel. If you have difficulty opening this document, contact me directly. (email: fctopresident@ctact.org)

WELCOME TO THE 29th 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

Susan Kniep, fctopresident@ctact.org

Subject:� FCTO President Susan Kniep, Bill Currey and Mayor DeStefano Participate in New London Day Forum on Sprawl and Property Tax Reform.

Tax Forum Blames Property Taxes For Sprawl, Says Time Ripe For Reform, By Kate Moran, Day Staff Writer, New London, Published on 4/28/2004

New London � As cities like this one struggle to hold down ascendant property taxes, leaders from around the state agreed Tuesday that the political climate is ripe for broad-based reform of the tax system.� Such reform became a serious possibility after the legislature created a blue ribbon commission in June 2002 to study flaws in the current system and recommend changes. The challenge now, seven months after the panel released its findings, is to overcome the bureaucratic inertia that retards any attempt at reform.� �The public is aching for this to happen,� said Bill Curry, a former state comptroller and two-time candidate for governor. �All the institutions have to do is get out of the way.�� Curry was among seven leaders invited by The Day to examine how state and local governments might built the consensus that is vital to an overhaul of the current system.� Towns in Connecticut rely on the property tax and aid from the state to fund all local services, including public education. When the state curtails its payouts, towns have to raise property taxes in order to maintain schools, police and fire departments and other basic needs.� Members of Tuesday's panel faulted this heavy reliance on the property tax for forcing towns to pursue development that threatens open space and aggravates sprawl. They said the drive for so-called �big box� stores and shopping centers homogenizes small towns and drains shoppers from the cities, encouraging growth in areas that do not have the infrastructure to support it.� With little regional cooperation, they said, towns must compete for the development that will generate the taxes to fund local services.� �People desperate for property taxes are signing off on development at the expense of central cities and regional planning,� Curry said.� To relieve the local tax burden, the blue ribbon commission recommended that the state take on a greater share of education costs. However, one participant in Tuesday's forum questioned whether the state is a proper steward of these funds.� Susan Kniep, a former mayor of East Hartford, said the state has a history of curtailing the funds it is mandated by law to give to towns. With the corruption charges dogging the governor's office, she said that state government has less credibility than ever.� Instead of tax reform as a panacea, she said, the state needs to revise its binding arbitration laws that award costly salaries, benefits and pensions to municipal employees. Kniep is also the president of the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, a group trying to reduce taxes. �While most of Tuesday's panelists agreed that reform is necessary, they debated the extent to which control of funds should be ceded to the state.� Mary Broderick, a school board member in East Lyme, recounted that she heard a voter say at a recent public hearing that he did not mind paying local taxes because he knew the town could deliver a quality education. Some panelists questioned whether the state commands that kind of confidence.� Others offered a third way: a regional or county authority with some power to collect taxes and distribute the burden of services across several towns. Mayor John DeStefano Jr. of New Haven noted that his city absorbs the bulk of the costs of an airport that serves the entire area.� A Democrat and prospective candidate for governor in 2006, DeStefano argued that towns and cities can curb sprawl by pooling resources to concentrate essential services in urban areas and leave outlying towns pristine.� Panelists debated whether the initiative for reform would need to come from the state, regional or local level.� David LeVasseur, an undersecretary in the state Office of Policy and Management, blamed the slow place of change on what he called �institutional reluctance� � or the force of bureaucratic habit.� However, Curry reproached the governor's office for failing to take action. Noting that town-by-town reform is impossible, he placed responsibility on the shoulders of the state. He said public cynicism about state government should not be used as an excuse.� �There is no other place where we can repose this hope,� Curry, a Democrat, said. �It is the only vehicle available, and if we don't walk this road, there is no way to give property tax relief.�

***********************************************************************Donna McCalla, CTJodi146@al.com
Tax Group: Hebron Dollars and Sense
Website: www.HebronDollarsandSense.com
Subject: Connecticut Municipal Tax Increase Comparisons for 2004
April 21, 2004

Congratulations, Thank You, Super Job to Donna McCalla who puts her time and effort into compiling valuable information on Town and Board of Education Budgets throughout the State. Please refer to Donna's comments below and the attachment which should be opened in excel. Also, if you have information on your town, you may wish to communicate with Donna directly at the email address CTJodi146@al.com.� �Susan Kniep

A Message from Donna:

Hello, all. I delayed releasing the latest spreadsheet on FY 2004-05 municipal tax increases (proposed, approved and defeated) because this week was "Super Tuesday." Next week is also a heavy voting week. The data remains fairly consistent; the regressed numbers have risen slightly from the last report of approximately 5.75% to 5.9%, although in looking at the "not known" list, I expect this 5.9% number to go down. History...

There are now 13 1/2 defeated budgets (the Glastonbury fiasco accounts for the "1/2"), and 34 1/2 passed budgets (again, the Glastonbury fiasco accounts for the "1/2".) I still don't have data for 46 towns/regional school districts, but some of those are defeated referendums and new numbers for Round Two haven't been set yet. The 13 defeated budgets number is tracking with last year's results at this time. The traditional "budget war" towns are passing budgets more easily this year, but others are picking up. In those towns passing budgets above the 5.75% level, it appears that last year's tax increase plays a role (i.e., generally, a lower tax increase than average last year, a higher tax increase than average this year appears to have acceptance.) It also appears from a significant number of newspaper articles that more and more are looking to Hartford to solve the overriding problems we see today in municipal finance. SB 456 on revaluation reform is moving full steam ahead, and if this bill passes the Senate (which I believe it will, if for no other reason than it's an election year), it will by its very nature require overall municipal finance reform -- otherwise, where is the money going to come from?? In addition, I have been in contact with several towns in which the "reval effect" is causing some confusion (as it did last year.) Some towns are able to tell you the adjusted "new" mill rate after revaluations, and the new proposed mill rate based on the proposed FY 2004-05 budget, and some aren't. Many voting dates on the spreadsheet have been changed, as dates I reported a couple of weeks ago were Budget Hearing/Town Meeting dates, which were adjourned to referendum. I have made all corrections submitted so far. This coming week will be another "Super Tuesday" week, so it will be interesting to see the results after the votes. Donna

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Edith Duncan, weimar35@earthlink.net

Subject: Granby Tax Group, Binding Arbitration Resolution

I am pleased to report that I received an inquiry from Edith Duncan of Granby indicating that they are planning to form a tax group and to also present the Binding Arb Resolution to their Board. Susan Kniep

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Jack Walton, jacc45@hotmail.com

Watertown / Oakville Taxpayers

Subject: Thomaston Tax Group

Sue....WOTA is aiding Thomaston CT...in developing a tax group....reporter for Wtby. Newspaper interviewed me. From Sue Kniep: I also received a call from the Waterbury Republican. I will include article in next Tax Talk Edition. Thank you Jack.

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SECOND REQUEST FOR RESPONSE

Susan Kniep, fctopresident@ctact.org

Subject:� Editorial Writer for New Jersey Newspaper Looking for Information

April 20, 2004

I received the following request.� Prior to my responding please email me your comments.�� Susan

Hello,� I'm an editorial writer for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., where
we are trying to cut property taxes. I wondered if you could give me some
history on how Connecticut abolished county government, and how much money
that might have saved. We are considering doing the same thing here.
Thank you,�
Paul Wyckoff, �PWYCKOFF@STARLEDGER.COM

The Star-Ledger
Newark, N.J. 07102
973-392-4159

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