Mayor Relieved at State Budget Passage: City Aid Won't be Cut

When state lawmakers passed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's final budget early Friday, it closed the $1.6 billion hole in the $41.1 billion package by agreeing to as many as 7,500 layoffs — not $54 million in cuts to aid to municipalities.

"I kind of figured the legislators were not going to be really enthusiastic about cutting town aid," Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said. "Especially because of the four towns ahead of us [New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and Waterbury]. You know how many state reps and senators are represented by those communities?"

"If you add in Middletown and New Britain, you probably have half the General Assembly there, just with those six communities," he said.

Early in the state budget process, Giuliano said, he put his faith in the abilities of Sen. Paul Doyle, D-9th. "He has part of the city of Hartford and half of Middletown."

On Wednesday, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities urged Legislatures to reject $54 million in municipal aid cuts proposed by the governor — which could have meant Middletown losing out on nearly half-a-million dollars.

"Our hit of $499,030 makes us the fifth most impacted community," Giuliano said Thursday. "Only New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and Waterbury are taking a bigger hit."

Malloy's proposal included a 50-percent cut in Town Aid Road grants and 5-percent cuts in PILOT State Property and in PILOT Colleges and Hospital reimbursements.

Nearly half of the city's cuts were incumbent upon Wesleyan University, Middlesex Hospital and the Community Health Center being located here.

"We have a lot of state properties," Giuliano said Thursday. "The university, hospital, we have a lot of nonprofits here, we have a significant number of exempt properties which we should be getting PILOT funds for."

With Middletown beginning its fiscal year today, Giuliano said, the effect of losing nearly a half-million in state support wouldn't be felt immediately.

"In the month of July, taxes come in. So we have an influx of cash in July and January [when installments are due], but come December and June, we start to run out of money," Giuliano explained.

Since the city charter doesn't allow changes to the budget once it's passed, Giuliano said he had a plan if the governor's proposal did pass.

"We can probably absorb it mainly through the fund balance because it’s healthy. I knew this day was coming. Eventually the state's going to turn and whack the cities and towns because bad news flows downhill."

When the Common Council approved the mayor's budget in May, it worked out to a slightly lower mill rate for residents over last year. But it wasn't an easy process, Giuliano said.

"We adopted our budget based on the state saying, 'this is what we’re going to give you.' We’re literally on the eve, this is New Year’s Eve for us," Guliano explained Thursday.

By Friday morning, he was far from sanguine.

"I think we avoided the budget problem for this year. But I think it's going to rear its ugly head again next year.

"But they're not going to take this off the table. You know they're going to look at us again. I don't think we've seen the end of it."

Show us some love! Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.