by State Senator Dan Debicella

The Governor has signed the two-year Connecticut budget into law, and it is a huge win for Stratford.  Like any compromise, it is not perfect—but will benefit taxpayers and students in Stratford for years to come.  The budget contained two huge wins:  the elimination of the cap on Stratford’s education aid from the state, and no increase in the income or sales tax.  Stratford will receive a 21% increase in state aid, and it will not cost a penny in increased income or sales taxes

For the past decade, Stratford has not received its fair share of educational aid from the state.  The Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) grant cap was first imposed in 1992, a move that cost Stratford property tax payers $50 million in the past decade.  I consider it one of the biggest accomplishments of my first year in office that we have finally eliminated this cap. 

Stratford will receive an additional $3 million this year, and almost $4 million next year—an increase of 23% above the $16.6 million we received last year.  Approximately half of this new money must be used for education, but the town can use the rest however it wants:  to decrease property taxes, increase education spending, or on infrastructure improvements.

We did this without a major tax increase.  I fought vigorously against proposals to increase the income tax or expand the sales tax.  We have a $900 million surplus this year, and there was no reason to raise any taxes.  Of course, that did not stop some politicians from proposing them!  The Democratic leadership wanted to increase not only the state income tax, but also expand the 6% sales tax to clothing under $50 and funerals.  I joined with my Republican colleagues to propose a “no new taxes” budget that did not raise any taxes, but maintained Governor Rell’s historic increase in state aid for education.  In the end, we passed a state budget that did not increase either the income or sales tax, and looked a lot like the budget that my colleagues and I proposed. 

The budget also enacts my job-creation proposal.  The General Assembly unanimously passed my legislation to provide tax credits to corporations that create ten new jobs in a year. Businesses will receive a tax credit equal to 60% of each new worker’s state withholding tax, thus encouraging companies to create thousands of new jobs.

In the coming weeks, I hope to have even more good budget news for Stratford. As you know, flooding continues to be a problem here. When the General Assembly reconvenes to pass a bonding package, I am hopeful that my proposal to include $50 million for flooding prevention is included. Meanwhile, I will continue to work with town officials to secure state funding for drainage improvements along Main Street and in Lordship. Under my proposal, Stratford would be able to apply for up to $1 million in state bond funds for infrastructure improvements.

This is not a perfect state budget—it was a compromise that still contained some provisions I did not like.  For starters, while we held the line on most taxes, we did increase the cigarette tax from $1.51 to $2.00 a pack – a tax increase that I believe is both unnecessary and unfair. Furthermore, the General Assembly did not seize the opportunity to provide some much needed relief by enacting my proposal to eliminate the 25-cent per-gallon gasoline sales tax and reducing the state income tax for the middle class.

I also worry that our government spending continues to increase at an unsustainable rate—up 8.6% next year. I do not know about your household, but mine cannot increase spending by 9% a year without eventually finding new sources of income.  We need to get state spending under control.  I would have preferred to pass a budget that looked for efficiency gains in government and kept the spending increase to within a range of 3-4%, but the Democratic leadership refused to even consider my proposals to cut back on spending increases.

Next year I will reintroduce my proposals to cut taxes and slow government spending.  Again I will propose lowering the state income tax for the middle class, and lowering the gas tax—and to pay for this by restraining the growth of government programs.

But, overall, this year’s budget cannot be considered anything but an outstanding success for the Town of Stratford.  Stratford will be getting a 21% increase in state aid, and it will not cost a penny in increased income or sales taxes.  That’s a win for all of us.

Dan Debicella is the State Senator representing Stratford, Shelton, Monroe, and Seymour.  If you have feedback for him or want to talk about the issues, he can be reached toll-free at (800) 842-1421 or by e-mail at dan.debicella@cga.ct.gov.