Press release from Mayor Ken Cockayne:
In an effort to get a handle on the growing number of unfunded mandates, passed on to municipalities and local taxpayers by the General Assembly, Mayor Ken Cockayne, today asked each Department Head in the City of Bristol to supply his office with any unfunded mandates that they believe hinders their ability to perform their duties. "Unfunded mandates are killing local governments as well as taxpayers," Cockayne continued, "It is time the members of the General Assembly deal with this issue and use their time in the next legislative session to offer us some relief."
In addition to unfunded mandates, the newly-elected Mayor also asked his Department Heads to provide him with a list of any state laws they felt should be reformed to allow them to perform their jobs in order to execute our responsibility to serve the citizens of Bristol."
"Over the past six years, as a member of the Bristol City Council, we have heard numerous calls for assistance regarding the impact of unfunded mandates," Cockayne added, "Now as Mayor, I am working to advance the progress on this issue, and work with the members of our local legislative delegation to try an alleviate some of these burdens."
The Mayor intends to prepare these issues into a legislative package on behalf of the people of Bristol and share them with our Representatives in Hartford, as well as the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the lobbying arm used by many local governments. "I urge every member who serves on a board or commission in Bristol to work with their respective department head to help develop a comprehensive report to our Legislators," Cockayne concluded, "Unfunded mandate relief is a key to holding the line on taxes and I am hopeful that our legislators in Hartford will hear our concerns."
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