Board of Ed Should Consider CT Health Partnership; "Significant" Savings To Support Services Possible

When State Comptroller Kevin Lembo talked with city officials last winter he came bearing potential good news that the city could gain hundreds of thousands of dollars for its municipal and schools' budgets without a new tax or cut to services.

It may sound too good to be true but it is real and obtainable as the city grapples with the threat of cuts and layoffs and the need to adequately fund public education.  There is a way for cash-strapped New Britain government to realize significant dollars it doesn't have now.

The new money -- potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars -- wouldn't be part of  state aid allocations but would come from savings of the CT Partnership Plan,  a new state law that allows cities and boards of education to join the state health plan effective July 1, 2012.  In effect in more than 20 states throughout the country,  the partnership plan, adopted after a three-year legislative effort by House Speaker Chris Donovan, utilizes the power of pooling employee groups to lower insurance premium costs, which have been a rising cost item for City Halls and Boards of Education in recent years.

In rolling out the CT Health Partnership in March,  Lembo said his analysis found that 50 municipalities, including New Britain, would receive lower premium rates under the partnership for health insurance. "Over 50 municipal employers analyzed so far would receive lower premium rates under the CT Partnership Plan -- 30 percent of those with rate reductions greater than five percent," declared Lembo who prior to being elected Comptroller in 2010 was the State Health Advocate.

Opponents of the partnership, including former Mayor Stewart and former Ald. Lou Salvio, have complained that adoption of the health partnership would be a state takeover -- a false and ridiculous claim that distorts the issue and continues a status quo of rising health premiums.  The partnership takes over nothing, but restructures good health coverage in a way the reduces the costs.

"Our initial analysis of more than 50 municipal employers revealed significant savings of five to eight percent in some cases -- real money for municipalities seeking local property tax relief," stated Lembo.

The O'Brien Administration and the city's labor unions are apparently on board with the idea and ready to implement it.  To date the the Board of Education has yet to commit to the idea.

To achieve the savings in the partnership plan both school and municipal labor force need to be part of it. The Board of Education needs to give the idea fair and serious consideration.

LTE from Billy Mac: Don't Trash Talk New Britain

In a letter to the Hartford Courant, former six-term Mayor William McNamara upbraids a wise-cracking reader who posted a not -so-nice put down of his city:

Shame on The Courant for allowing a comedian from East Hampton to ridicule the city of New Britain. In the Caption Contest of June 3, the cartoon shows two people sitting on a bench, waiting for a bus, wondering "Once we get to New Britain what do we do?" I am sure all 26 or so elected officials, and the scores of appointed officials from New Britain have already written The Courant, defending the city's honor and objecting to this low-brow sense of humor. I would, however, suggest the following: 1. Visit the American Museum of American Art (the oldest and perhaps the best museum of American art in the country). 2. Enjoy a Class AA Rock Cats baseball game at New Britain Stadium (you will probably see a future Major Leaguer). As an enticement, I am sure I can arrange to get you a free bag of peanuts. 3. Visit New Britain s Industrial Museum. You will learn that New Britain was known as the Hardware City of the World. In fact, you probably have at least one Stanley tool in your home! 4. Enjoy a concert by the New Britain Symphony Orchestra. 5. Stop by the admission's office at Central Connecticut State University; perhaps you can make arrangements to get your G.E.D. there. 6. Take in a play presented by the Repertory Theater of New Britain. Oh yes, a question: The contest winner's hometown, East Hampton, is known for what? Way to go Billy Mac

Partnership For Strong Communities' June 15th Forum Focuses On Public Transit Benefits For City

"Developing Connecticut's Transit Future: Strategic Placemaking and Economic Opportunity" is the topic at a free forum to be held June 15th at The Lyceum in Hartford to begin at 8:30 a.m.


The Partnership for Strong Communities is hosting this discussion of the potential benefits of public transit at a propitious time for New Britain. It'll raise key ideas and issues tailor-made for what  city officials and residents need to consider in shaping the city's future. Organizers say speakers at the forum will include "talented, experienced architects, designers and planners."  The discussion will involve policymakers, developers, mayors, first selectmen, town managers, business leaders, planners and zoning officials.


The imminent construction of the New Britain-to-Hartford Busway -- christened "CTFastrak" at groundbreaking ceremonies last week by transportation officials, invites no small amount of hope that public transit will spur economic development in downtown New Britain.  Colin McEnroe makes this point well in his May 27th Courant column, calling the  busway "Scootie" and recalling CT's backwardness on mass transit.

As reported by Scott Whipple in the New Britain Herald: "The project includes 11 stations along the route from New Britain to Newington into West Hartford and ending in Hartford with buses running every three to six minutes during peak commuting hours."   

Artist's rendering of New Britain's CTFastrak Station (CT-DOT)

N.B.'s central business district, long a victim of retail flight to malls and the god-awful Route 9 that split the town in two in the 1970s, needs a multi-pronged approach to revival.   

The new police station, mistakenly being built at Chestnut and Main, gives us a much needed public safety facility, but is not the elixir for a revitalized central business district that was promised. All is not lost, however. 

"CTFastrak" represents a piece of the solution for New Britain as commuters, frustrated as we are about the I-84 crawl to and from the capital city, can turn to  rapid transit to avoid parking fees and congestion. Don't forget that upwards of 100,000 people go into the capital city on weekdays -- many from west of the river. There's also the outflow of city residents who need to get to class at CCSU or to one of the jobs that left Hartford for greener (probably not the right word) pastures and more parking lots. 

"Many factors – from expensive gasoline and heating oil to tight credit and high down payment requirements, from a growing 65+ population to our need to attract skilled, educated 25-34-year-old labor pool – have made your transit-proximate town a potential focus for a new wave of development and growth," says PSC's Policy Director David Fink. "Smaller, energy-efficient, market-rate, affordable and mixed-income homes near transit – with commercial development, parks, entertainment and recreation weaved in – will be in demand over the next two decades. Large homes far from town centers and transit will not necessarily stay vacant, but demand for them will decline."

Reservation information on the June 15th forum is available by emailing Laura Bachman on at laura@pschousing.org or by calling her at 860-244-0066. 

City Budget Hearing Today, 5/17, at Slade

The best opportunity for residents to weigh in on New Britain government spending will be today at 7 p.m. at the Louis P. Slade Middle School when the Common Council conducts a hearing before setting the budget for the year that begins on July 1.

The Common Council's annual hearing on the municipal budget comes amid concerns over layoffs to the city’s work force, school funding and the O’Brien administration’s efforts to end one-time  fixes utilized by prior administrations to hold the line on the mill rate.

Of particular concern are proposed cuts that deal a severe blow to the public library and the impact more than 100 layoffs would have on the delivery of municipal services.

At issue is whether the city can deliver essential and needed services and still maintain the mill rate at current levels.  

While the mill rate gets the most attention property revaluation -- scheduled for 2013 in New Britain -- generally has more of an impact on whether tax bill rise or fall for property owners.  

 Slade Middle School is located at 183 Steele Street.  For information on the budget and city finances go to

http://www.newbritainct.gov/index.php/city-services/finance/overview.html

The city finance page includes proposed budget information.

Little Poland Festival April 29th

The Polonia Business Association, a Broad Street-based group, organized the first Little Poland Festival today. Businesses, restaurants and volunteer organizations participated. Mayor O'Brien and other officials cut the ribbon to kick off the event

Top Ten Tax Facts: The rich get......

Top Ten Tax Facts


The American Prospect and DEMOS share a  top ten tax facts that show the folly of extending the Bush tax cuts and confirm the growing income gap in the United States.

The Bush tax cuts added $1.7 trillion to the nation’s debt between 2001 and 2008, which is more than it would cost to send 25 million kids to four-year public universities.

2013 Municipal Budget Reality: Paying For Stewart's Fiscal Irresponsibility

Mayor Tim O'Brien  delivered his first municipal budget proposal to the Common Council this week.  To the surprise of critics who always tag O'Brien as one of the  free-spending, tax-hiking liberals, the new mayor's efforts at budget balancing exceeded the usual austerity measures used to hold the line on taxes and keep essential services going.

In broad terms, this unfinished blueprint for the year that begins July 1 calls for departmental consolidations, the elimination of 130 positions and measures to enhance revenues that leave the mill rate as is.  Instead of turning a deaf ear to the needs of the schools, however, it adds local funds to the Board of Education and leaves public safety alone

The severity of the budget is a reflection of O'Brien meeting the first obligation of an elected official -- telling the truth to the people you represent. 

O'Brien is putting a halt to the "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul" methods of  Timothy Stewart, the four-term mayor, who over several fiscal years increased obligations on the city and relied on one-time fixes that ultimately put the budget  in a deep hole six months into the current fiscal year. The Common Council majority, in often bitter exchanges, stood in the way of the former Mayor's budget maneuverings but ultimately approved prior budgets that met a June deadline.

Last winter O'Brien's financial review team and independent auditors identified a $10 million gap for the current year that had to be addressed immediately.  It took another one-time fix of using Water Department reserves -- the only option O'Brien could find to avoid a local government shutdown in the early months of the new administration.  

Balancing the municipal budget and delivering quality services to residents are a daunting enough task in 2012 because of the dependence on a regressive property tax structure, static state aid and the retreat of the federal government in its support to communities .  New Britain's problems have been compounded by the fiscally irresponsible actions of the Stewart administration and his failure to be transparent when it came to spending tax dollars.  Unfortunately, O'Brien's first budget proposal is paying for the sins of his predecessor. The notes are being called in on unrealized sales of development property and kicking the city's financial obligations down the road.

With a final budget due to be passed in June there is plenty of work ahead for the Mayor and the Common Council to avert cuts and jobs losses of frontline, direct service employees.

Losing 130 municipal positions is unacceptable if the current level of services is to be maintained.

Good faith bargaining, finding additional savings, alternatives to the way the city pays for health insurance and energy and modernizing City Hall operations all will be needed to help the city get through a fiscal crisis that will persist into 2013 fiscal year and beyond.