Council Sends Requests To Hartford
January 15, 2010 by Josh Morgan
The Town Council approved a list of nine items that it feels are important for the future of Cheshire and sent it along to the state legislature for their consideration in the upcoming session.
The items relate to grant funding, tax income, and economic development, and it was approved 6-2 by the Republican Council majority. Democratic Councilors Justin Adinolfi and Michael Ecke did not vote in favor of the legislative package. The items in the package, according to Town Manager Michael Milone, should have little to no financial impact on the state budget, given the economic times and, rather, focuses on municipalities and some potential shortcomings moving forward.
The first issue was the upping the grant funding through the Clean Water Fund to 30 percent. Currently, the program is a 20 percent grant and 80 percent loan at a low interest rate, and the Town requested that the grant portion be increased in an effort to offset costs of the state’s mandated regulations for phosphorus removal at the wastewater treatment plant. Secondly, the Town asked that the real estate conveyance tax be renewed this legislative session. The Town currently receives $2.50 per $1,000 of a sale price and generates as much as $200,000 to $400,000 annually.
“Hopefully the Legislature will adopt (the conveyance tax) permanently,” Milone explained. “If it sunsets, we’ll have a loss in revenue that we have come to count on.”
Also included on the list were requests to amend the telecommunications property payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) that is paid to the town. The Town asked that those properties be assessed and valued similar to other businesses. Additional funding for the Town’s large capital projects, such as the extension of the linear trail and upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant, was also requested in the legislative package. The Economic Development Commission hoped to have an area of Cheshire designated as an Enterprise Zone to help recruit businesses. Neighboring towns such as Hamden and Meriden have these zones and, to help keep Cheshire competitive in the economic development field, an Enterprise Zone would offer a new set of incentives.
“We have asked the state for this before and we were unsuccessful,” Milone said. “An Enterprise Zone could provide us with some tax incentives.”
Republican Councilors David Schrumm and Tim White also added their own ideas to the package that is being sent to Hartford. Schrumm asked the Legislature to modify its binding arbitration laws to allow local governing bodies to reject an arbitration reward by a two-thirds vote.
“This never made it out of committee a few years ago, but hopefully this year it will,” Schrumm said.
Additionally, Schrumm included a request to increase the prevailing wage state statute and revise the Department of Environmental Protection’s open space policies, which have impacted Cheshire’s greenbelt.
White added one item and hoped to see the chief state’s attorney’s office obtain subpoena power during investigation. White felt this was the best way to fight public corruption in the state by giving that office “more authority.”
Milone said he would send the legislative package to Hartford shortly, and include in the cover letter a request from the Town Council to have elected state representatives come to town to speak about the issues in the package.