Sam Gurwitt Photo
State Rep. Josh Elliott: “We’ll be in the top tier.”
While many towns are reeling from the news that they may see a reduction in state aid this year, Hamden can be guardedly optimistic after hearing Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal.
Enclosed by shelves upon shelves of DVDs, Hamden State Reps. Mike D’Agostino and Josh Elliott delivered that message Saturday morning to Hamden residents packed into Best Video Film and Cultural Center.
Hamden, D’Agostino said at the beginning of the meeting, did pretty well in Lamont’s proposed budget. The town will “have at least the status quo” when it comes to state funding, he said, though the state will not have its final budget until June so the exact amount is still subject to change.
The state legislature now takes up the budget and considers changes, a process that takes months. At Saturday’s event, Elliott and D’Agostino called Lamont’s proposed funding formula worth fighting to preserve.
When Lamont announced his proposed budget on Wednesday, most towns in the state learned that they will receive less funding in the next two years than they did in the current fiscal year if Lamont’s version passes. Lamont is seeking to address a structural deficit that produces annual billion-plus-dollar deficits. Hamden is among the 35 of Connecticut’s 169 towns that would see an increase in aid under the budget.
“No matter what happens, we’ll be in the top tier when it comes to aid from the state,” Elliott told the Independent.
Saturday’s gathering.
Under the proposed budget, Hamden is slated to receive $35,678,357 in state grants in fiscal year 2020, and $37,672,314 in FY21, up from $34,662,558 in the current fiscal year. That would mean a $705,905 increase in FY20, and $2,369,796 in FY21. Those numbers would place Hamden in 14th in money received in statutory grants in FY20.
A large part of that aid would be from the ECS (education cost sharing) formula, the system the state uses to allocate education funding among municipalities. The formula promises $28,529,220 for Hamden in FY20, and $29,672,665 in FY21.
In recent years, Hamden has been in a tough fiscal position, inching closer to running a deficit that would place the town under state budget oversight. For many years, Hamden, like the state, underfunded its pensions. It now faces around $450 million in pension liabilities, and has a long way to go before it will be in a position where pension payments will stop squeezing the town’s wallet.
In addition, argued Elliott, the town has historically been underfunded by the state. As a result, the mill rate has increased in recent years, to around 48 mills, higher than New Haven’s and one of the highest in Connecticut.
State Rep. Mike D’Agostino.
Elliott and D’Agostino noted that, though they were pleased with how Hamden fared in Lamont’s budget, it is not final. Legislators from towns that saw reductions in state aid, said D’Agostino, will fight to try to get some of that money back, and it has to come from somewhere. If those legislators get their way, Hamden may not receive quite as much as the current budget proposal would give.
“Our main focus,” said D’Agostino, “is trying to preserve that money.”
D’Agostino and Elliott’s fight to keep the funding that Lamont budgeted for Hamden may be the best way that they can help local lawmakers avoid tax increases.When a Hamden resident asked what the representatives are doing to lower property taxes, Elliott responded that “obviously, what we can do from the state level is send as much money back to the town as possible.”
In order to do that, Elliott and D’Agostino may need the help of Hamden residents. Now, said Elliott, is a “really good time to have your voice heard.”