Hartford — Arguing that no one should be entitled to an earmark, Gov. M. Jodi Rell slashed $1 million in funding for New Haven’s Festival of Arts & Ideas.
The governor’s proposed FY2010-2012 budget, unveiled Wednesday at the Capitol, also cut funding to New Haven’s pioneering youth program, LEAP.
Rell’s budget flat-funded the grant the city relies on most, ECS (Educational Cost Sharing). Other state funding to municipalities stayed flat or saw a modest cut from FY2009.
New Haven’s popular summer festival was one of 19 recipients of cultural resource grants, administered by the state Commission on Culture and Tourism. All 19 were slashed from the budget.
“The governor believes that this type of grant should be done on a competitive, merit-based system, not an entitlement,” said Rell’s budget chief, Robert Genuario (pictured), at a press briefing Wednesday.
That list of severed “entitlements” also included:
• $125,00 in funding to the Arts Council of Greater New Haven
• $45,000 to the Amistad Committee for the Freedom Trail
• $500,000 to the Amistad Vessel
Those organizations are encouraged to compete for restored funding through a competitive process. Funding for that competitive system has been boosted from $3 million to $9 million, Genuario said.
Also suffering from the budgetary knife was New Haven’s LEAP, which stands for Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership. The organization suffered a cut of $850,000 per year.
The cut was made partly because the program may be eligible for funding through the federal stimulus program, Genuario said. However he admitted, the choice also came down to not having enough money. He acknowledged the federal funding may not come through.
“They stand the chance of getting nothing, or they stand the chance of getting federal funds,” Genuario said.
Erik Clemons, LEAP’s executive director, said he felt a sense of d√©j√† vu.
“The same thing happened two years ago,” Clemons said. LEAP mobilized staff and parents to lobby the Capitol. The effort worked: They got the funding restored. He said the group is gearing up for a renewed campaign.
“We’re prepared to do what we have to do to rectify the situation,” he said.
How Flat Is Flat?
After the governor announced she’s keeping municipal funding flat in her next budget, New Haven’s Sen. Toni Harp immediately challenged that claim.
“And I am pleased to announce that so will my budget, in that it flat funds — yes, flat funds — state aid to municipalities for the next 2 years,” said Rell during her budget address.
“What she’s not saying,” Harp said afterward, is that municipal grants will actually decline over FY2009, the current year’s budget.
This is because in FY2009, the governor boosted funding levels to some municipal grants using funds from a 2007 surplus. A total extra $28 million in “bonus” funding was added to four municipal grant programs, for PILOT, Pequot funds and road maintenance. This year, those funds will be gone.
Rich Harris, Rell’s spokesman, countered that those “bonus” funds were always meant to be a one-time occurrence.
“Cities and towns should be heaving a huge sigh of relief,” Harris said, considering that they were worried about a possible 10 percent cut.
“It’s a brutal budget year, and this is an earnest try,” said New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon.
In contrast to some of his recent attacks on the state for abandoning urban centers, Mayor John DeStefano struck a markedly positive tone.
“It’s a good starting point,” said the mayor of the proposed budget. For municipalities without a high concentration of poverty and tax-exempt property, he said, the budget was “fine.”
“It doesn’t solve our problems,” he said, “ but it doesn’t degrade our resources.”
DeStefano applauded the governor for introducing an initiative to promote regionalization. She allocated $40 million in bond funds to go towards regional delivery of services, such as trash collection, road maintenance or parks and rec.
DeStefano was optimistic that neighboring towns might be willing to engage in this effort, perhaps with emergency public safety issues or with parks and recreation. He called it a good first step to a needed reform.
There was some fear that construction on Gateway Community College would be delayed, as construction on other state colleges has been, but Rell’s spokesman said the project would go ahead as planned.
Rell also proposed providing municipalities relief by:
‚Ä¢ Delaying by two years new requirements for in-school suspension, as well as those of the “raise the age” law.
‚Ä¢ Suspending binding arbitration for two years. That means when a municipal union’s contract expires, it would be frozen until 2011. The initiative would resort to a wage-freeze. (Harp called the proposal “Dead On Arrival.”)
• Allowing towns to collect up to 3.5 cents for every bottle they deposit through road-side recycling programs. Under an expanded bottle bill, water bottles would be eligible for the deposit rebate.
New Haven’s State Sen. Martin Looney and fellow Democrats charged that the budget she presented was underfunded by $2.6 billion. The difference stems from varying budget predictions offered by Rell’s budget team and the Office of Fiscal Analysis, Genuario said.
He said Rell missed the opportunity to discuss new revenue streams, such as a hike in income tax for the wealthy or rolling back some exemptions on the state sales tax.
Harp, who co-chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, will begin public hearings next week. She’ll play a key role as legislators make amendments to the governor’s proposal and pass a final, two-year budget.
“We’ll have to see how things go,” she said. “This is a journey. This is the first step.”