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To the Editor:
West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor recently posted on Facebook (see below): “We did it … We won.” She claimed the town was prepared and planned properly for the possibility the state would eliminate $27 million in aid to West Hartford. While it appears the town will receive the majority of the state aid this year, the town budget was very risky and left the town financially exposed to the whim of our state government.
We did it! After facing tens of millions in devastating state cuts for months, we won! We protected our award winning public schools. We protected town services including our libraries. We protected our senior centers. This is a good day for West Hartford, and I want to thank everyone who helped us in this process.
We were prepared, planned properly, and mobilized as one body to overcome these cuts. And together, we did it. Thank you to Senator Beth Bye, State Representative Andy Fleischmann, State Representative Derek Slap, and State Representative Joe Verrengia. Throughout this prolonged, difficult state budget process, we were at the Capitol testifying, meeting with leaders, and working together to protect West Hartford’s future. We did it! Thank you to everyone who helped us on this successful effort. #WeHaWin
In April, the Town Council passed a $285 million budget 6-3 along party lines with all six Democrats voting in favor of the budget. The budget assumed no cuts to state aid. During the state budget impasse, town staff stated that a cut over $10m would be “catastrophic” and “devastating” to our town. If the state did cut town funding our options would have been a mid-year tax increase or emptying our reserve funds which most likely would have resulted in the town losing its top credit rating. This was not a fiscally prudent plan, particularly since we are four months into our budget year with limited options to address shortfalls.
Mayor Cantor also thanked our state elected officials for their leadership and protecting West Hartford. Such praise is simply not deserved. Our legislators took ten months to pass a budget putting town funding in jeopardy, threatening to force the towns to contribute to the teachers pension the state failed to properly fund, damaged the state’s reputation, hurt the state’s ability to attract new employers to grow the state economy, and contributed to many towns being placed on Moody’s negative watch list or negative outlook, like West Hartford. These are also the same legislators who were prepared to vote in favor of a budget raising taxes by $1.5 billion, while voting “no” on the Republican budget that would have fully funded West Hartford.
Unfortunately, state budget deficits will continue long into the future. While there are some positive changes in the recently-passed state budget, it is already running a deficit and it is only a matter of time before we learn the income tax receipts are lower than projected. We already know the next state biennium budget negotiation will open with a $4.6 billion (or more) budget deficit. The SEBAC deal will also cause higher wage payments in the next biennium, and the four-year no layoff provision and ten-year extension of the pension and medical benefits for state workers will make it almost impossible to reform this critical area of the state budget.
This all means we are going to be confronting the same budget issues in about four months when the town’s 2019 proposed budget is presented to the Town Council. When will we learn? This is not a “win,” it is a wake-up call. The town has to address its spending and debt issues and not automatically pass-through massive property tax increases year after year. We need a long-term plan to live within our means and without state aid.
Chris Barnes
Member, West Hartford Town Council
