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Health & Fitness

State Budget Keeps Towns Whole

“Town leaders are breathing a little easier today because the budget agreement restores key municipal aid programs,” said Betsy Gara, COST’s Executive Director.

“We appreciate the efforts of the Governor and lawmakers to craft a budget to keep towns whole,” Gara said. “Cuts to PILOTs, the Pequot Mohegan grant and school transportation would have hit many small towns very hard. Towns would have been forced to increase property taxes or cut vital programs, wreaking havoc in our communities.”

“COST members were very active this year, reminding lawmakers that state aid to our small towns has been pretty much flat funded for several years. At this point, with town budgets already stretched thin, every dollar of state aid that is cut would have forced an increase in local property taxes,” said Dick Smith, First Selectman of Deep River and President of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns. “We are very pleased that our message to lawmakers was heard loud and clear,” Smith said.

The House of Representatives adopted a $37.6 billion, two-year budget that:
• Restores $11 million to the State Owned Property PILOT to flat fund the program at $73,641,646 for FY 14 and FY 15;
• Restores $11 million to the College & Hospitals PILOT to flat fund the program at $115,431,737 for FY 14 and FY 15;
Restores $11 million to the Mashantucket Pequot Mohegan Grant to flat fund the grant at 61,779,907 for FY 14 and FY 15;
• Restores funding to the Public and Non Public School Transportation grant programs to flat fund the program at $ 24,884,748 (public school) and $ 3,595,500 (private and parochial schools);
• Restores $2,217,456 in FY 14 and $1,358,728 in FY 15 to the Municipal Aid Adjustment Grant, intended to hold towns harmless in this year’s budget;
• Doubles Town Aid Road funding from $30 to $60 million per year (bonded) and increases funding for the Local Capital Improvement Program (LOCIP) by an additional $56 million per year (bonded) to offset the elimination of funding for the Municipal Revenue Sharing Account and the Manufacturing Transition Grant;
• Increases Education Costing Sharing (ECS) funding by $59 million in FY 14 and by $66 million in FY 15; • Targets $20 million to help school districts fund the new teacher evaluation program;
• Provides $14.6 million to implement the Common Core State Standards in Connecticut; and
• Targets $27.5 million to the Commissioner’s Network, a program aimed at helping Connecticut’s lowest-achieving schools.

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