| Hartford, CT – Senate Minority
Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield) and Senate Minority
Leader Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven) today
criticized Democrats for attempting to fund $8 million
in pork barrel spending by placing a 2-year moratorium
on previously approved and scheduled school construction
projects throughout Connecticut. The FY10-11 budget
passed by the General Assembly early Tuesday morning
achieves $7.8 million in “savings” by halting
shovel-ready school construction projects. Republican
leaders today questioned why Democrats chose to sacrifice
these projects in favor of passing $8 million in pork
barrel spending that has since been vetoed by Governor
Rell.
“The facts speak for themselves: Democrats chose
pork-barrel spending over education. As a result, they
have placed an additional and unnecessary burden on
municipalities at a time when they can least afford
it and after they have already passed their own budgets.
These projects are shovel-ready and Democrats have essentially
taken the shovels out of the hands of mayors and first
selectmen throughout Connecticut,” said
Senator McKinney. “This is one of the
problems with having a 702-page budget dropped in your
lap just hours before you’re expected to vote
on it. It doesn’t allow the public or the legislature
– particularly members of the minority - adequate
time to vet the bill. The more we examine the intricacies
of this budget, the uglier it gets,”
Senator McKinney noted that it is unprecedented for
the General Assembly not to pass a school construction
bill. He applauded Governor Rell for vetoing the $8
million in pork-barrel spending and is urging her to
use that money to restore funding for these important
school construction projects.
Senator Fasano echoed Senator McKinney’s
concerns about the Democrats failure to prioritize spending.
“Given the Democrats' willingness to add pork-barrel
spending to this budget, it is hard to imagine how school
construction could have been dropped. Couldn’t
we have held off until better economic times on spending
$1 million on a Fall Prevention Program or $100,000
for a Seafood Advisory Council and instead help a town
pay for school construction? Of course we could have,”
he said. “Over the past few months Democrats have
been busy stirring up educators and special interest
groups; saying any cuts to state services would not
come at the expense of Connecticut’s students.
This decision flies in the face of that rhetoric and
is bad public policy.”
According to a November 2008 memo (attached) from the
Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA), placing a moratorium
on school construction grants from July 1st, 2009 to
June 30th, 2010 would decrease the cost of debt service
by $7.8 million. The savings are also listed as a line-item
on a spreadsheet Democrats released to their members
prior to the budget vote (attached). The moratorium
means that towns cannot expect any state matching funds
for school construction projects scheduled to take place
through June 30th 2010. The projects set to receive
matching funds were listed in SB 1111: An
Act Concerning Authorization of State Grant Commitments
for School Building Projects and Concerning Changes
to the Statutes Concerning School Building Projects
(attached) which allocates hundreds of millions of dollars
in school construction projects. SB 1111 was never called
for a vote in the 2009 session.
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