"Business as Normal" in Portland

Officials in Portland are sticking with their plan to send out local property tax bills next week for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, despite a state budget impasse that will likely send the budget back to the governor and lawmakers for cuts.

First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield said today that leaders in her town are operating on the assumption that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will not make cuts in state aid to municipalities because the governor promised months ago that he would not increase taxes.

“Our governor has said no more tax increases. If they were to cut municipal aid they’ll be increasing municipal taxes and they’ve pledged not to do that,” Bransfield said. “I would argue they’re not going to cut municipal aid because they’ve said they weren’t going to increase taxes. If you’re cutting municipal aid you’re increasing taxes.

“We are proceeding with business as normal.”

Bransfield said any local aid cuts would be devastating to her town because officials in Portland have kept the budget increases here to a minimum in recent years.

“We’ve cut our services to the bone so if we had to do more it would be a tremendous impact,” she said. Portland’s taxes have increased less than .2 percent each year over the past five years, she added.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities is urging Malloy not to cut state aid to towns if he implements a deficit reduction plan in the wake of union rejection of his budget-balancing deal.

In a letter today to the governor, CCM Executive Director James J. Finley Jr., told Malloy that most cities and towns in Connecticut have already set their budgets and tax rates for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Local property tax bills for the coming year will begin going out next week.

In his letter, Finley hints that cutting aid to towns and cities could destroy the good rapport Malloy has forged with local officials since taking office in January.

“During the regular legislative session, your steadfast resolve to avoid balancing the state budget on the backs of towns and cities and their residential and business property taxpayers set you apart as a governor.  It was the right thing to do then, and it is the right thing to do now,” Finley wrote. “You have, in less than six months in office, reinvigorated and transformed the State-Local Partnership.  Your partners at the municipal level ask for your help again as you undertake the difficult and wrenching task of preparing another deficit reduction plan.”

During a meeting last week with CCM leaders and members, however, Malloy warned town officials that if union rank and file members did not accept the agreement the governor forged with union leaders all aspects of the budget, including aid to municipalities, would have to be revisited in order to close a $1.6 billion state budget shortfall.

The union deal has fallen apart in recent days as members of some of the state’s biggest unions have rejected the agreement.