$4 million for Rockwell Park appears to be dead

Remember that $4 million for Rockwell Park renovations that former state Rep. Kosta Diamantis, a Bristol Democrat, got approval for some years ago? The money that never made it onto the State Bond Commission agenda?
Well, forget about it.
Rell's proposed budget "cancels nearly $400 million in unallocated bond authorizations – most of them pork-barrel spending or earmark projects that the state simply cannot afford in this time of austerity," according to highlights prepared by her office.
Though the projects are not listed specifically -- or, at least, I couldn't find them --there is a page that shows a whole bunch of axed projects in background type that's meant to be sort of artsy, in an accountant's view anyway.
Among thost wiped out projects is Bristol's $4 million for Rockwell Park.
Oh, well, Easy come, easy go.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Rell seeks to close Bristol, Meriden courthouses

Gov. John Rowland tried to shut Bristol's courthouse, too, but failed. Maybe Gov. Jodi Rell will have more luck.

Update: Finally found this, buried down in the judicial budget....
Closing the Meriden and Bristol courthouses will save $2.1 million by eliminating funding for 29 positions and associated costs, according to Rell's budget.
Another $438,000 would be saved by axing five public defenders who work at the two courthouses.
The state would also save some money by not having to operate the Bristol court, but I'm not sure how much. That sum is lumped in with a number of others.
I'm not sure why closing courthouses would pare attorney costs either, since the defendants they represent would not be freed. They'd just be shifted to another courtroom.
In any case, I can't find anything at all to justify the closing except for saving money. That's a necessary thing to do, of course, but there ought to be some kind of explanation for why Bristol and Meriden get the hook while other courts remain. There isn't.
A slide show about the governor's budget, prepared by her staff, says that Bristol cases would be handled in New Britain.

Update at 5:30 --

A long-forgotten state law requires the Bristol courthouse remain open at least 40 weeks a year, a measure written into the statute book more than 15 years ago when former House Minority Leader Edward Krawiecki, Jr took the initiative to block earlier talk of shutting the Bristol institution.

However, the law doesn’t specifically require a superior court locally so it’s always possible the state could stick a traffic or small claims court in the space and comply with the law's wordig without leaving much of a judicial footprint in town.

The state tried most recently in 2001 to close the courthouse. The effort was beaten back by the city's legislators and former Mayor Frank Nicastro's administration.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

No cuts to state aid to Bristol?

Gov. Jodi Rell's budget director, Robert Genuario, told The Hartford Courant that the governor won't reduce state Education Cost Sharing allocations to cities and towns. She will also continue to fully fund road aid, local capital improvement grants, PILOT grants and the Pequot aid.

Reducing grants to municipalites would pass the burden to local property taxpayers, Genuario told the paper.

If that holds true through the legislative session, Bristol officials will have a much, much easier time dealing with the budget crisis.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Gov. Jodi Rell's Budget Address

I'm going to try something new to cover Gov. Jodi Rell's budget address as it happens on Wednesday. Join in at noon Wednesday!



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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Mass layoffs possible for city schools

Worried that drastic cuts in state education aid could be coming down the pike, the city’s school superintendent plans to hand out about 200 pink slips to every non-tenured teacher by the end of March.
Though most will likely keep their job, Superintendent Philip Streifer’s worst case scenario for the upcoming budget would send about 70 non-tenured teachers packing out of a total of 108 potential layoffs.
Board of Education member Tom O’Brien, who heads the finance committee, said it is “unthinkable” that state lawmakers would allow the sort of drastic cuts to state aid that would force Bristol to take such drastic steps.
Streifer presented three possible budgets for next year that range from a low of $95 million to a high of $104.6 million, which is what Streifer said it would take to maintain existing personnel and programs.
This year’s spending plan calls for shelling out $100.9 million for city schools. Streifer said he expects to end the fiscal year in June with a slight surplus.
What’s driving the dire scenarios is concern that state decision-makers will slice education aid to municipalities in their quest to fill a hole in Connecticut’s budget that might total as much as $10 billion over the next 30 months, including a shortfall of more than $1 billion in this year’s budget.
School officials said that Bristol’s students are doing well on standardized tests and that existing programs and methods are proving successful. They say they would like to get enough funding from the city and state to maintain what they’re doing.
“It’s going to have a very dramatic effect here if the state pulls the rug out from under this,” Streifer said.
But, Streifer said, given the talk of major reductions in state aid and the possibility of the city freezing its educational assistance, he has no choice but to look at how he could deal with budget cuts in the coming year.
He said that the goal is to make any cuts have as little impact on academics as possible and to pay particular attention to making sure early childhood education isn’t harmed.
But to reach the spending limits that a 4 percent or 9 percent cut requires would not be easy, officials said.
As many as 71 non-tenured teachers could be shown the door, officials said, along with clerks, custodians and more.
Streifer said he intends to hand out pink slips to all of the non-tenured teachers by March 31 so that if he has to cut some, they would not be able to force the district to hold potentially costly hearings on the reduction in force effort.
“It’s not pleasant, but it’s the right thing to,” Streifer said.
Art Costa, the head of the teachers’ union, said he understands the difficulty of the situation. He said he hopes state legislators will take quick action so that officials can at least know what they’re dealing with.
“We’re in a terrible situation,” said Barbara Doyle, the chair of the school board. “It’s not nice not to know.”
O’Brien said that school board members will examine every alternative to try to make sure that every possible teacher remains in the classroom.
Among the potential changes not yet factored in are an early retirement program, furloughs, shortening the school year or voluntary wage reductions to save money and jobs. All of them are on the table, officials said.
There is also a chance that millions of dollars could come from the federal stimulus measure that Congress is debating. It would help, Streifer said, but would not be enough by itself to stave off some of the cuts.
O’Brien said he is glad Streifer is taking a realistic approach to the budget, adding that he is “mystified and disappointed” so many other school systems in Connecticut are approving spending plans that assume threatened cuts won’t actually happen.

Among the changes eyed

-          A single band director to serve all three middle schools.

-          Moratorium on new books for school libraries.

-          Up to 31 students in some elementary classrooms.

-          Ax summer adult education.

-          Drop 4^th grade instrumental music.

-          Fewer high school courses.

-          Eliminate middle school inter-scholastic sports.

-          Rely on parent volunteers for elementary libraries.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City waiting to hear details of bad budget news

Despite a request from the Board of Finance to prepare budget scenarios detailing what will happen if spending cuts are ordered, city officials are doing nothing until they learn the details of what Gov. Jodi Rell proposes tomorrow.
Mayor Art Ward said he wants to “avoid a chaotic and panic situation” within city government if it isn’t necessary.
Fiscal overseers asked for department heads to prepare scenarios of what will happen if they are told to cut 5 or 10 percent from their annual budgets – numbers big enough to require layoffs to meet.
But Ward said he told department heads today to hold off and to do “nothing” for the moment.
“Why speculate on the unknown?” the mayor said. “I don’t think it’s pertinent at this time.”
When the governor details her plan for coping with a shortfall of as much as $10 billion over the next 30 months, the impact of the state’s choices on Bristol and other municipalities should be much more clear.
"We all know what she's going to say: we're in bad shape; we're broke; we need a bunch of money; we can't raise taxes," said state Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat whose 31st District includes Plymouth, Plainville and a piece of Harwinton.
Ward said that depending on what Rell says the city may have to prepare for its worst case scenario for the upcoming budget, a plan that could mean fewer municipal services and perhaps layoffs.
"There's going to be some pain," Ward said.
After listening to Gov. Jodi Rell's speech to the state on Monday evening, the mayor said the situation is dire.
"We're going to have sit down and take stock" after hearing the details of the state spending plan, Ward said.
The mayor said "a stark evaluation" is required and will get underway as soon as solid numbers are available.
Ward said the city has been gearing up for nine months to cope with what is turning out to be a potentially shattering state budget that could dramatically reduce aid to Bristol's schools and to City Hall generally.
If that happens, Ward said, "Everything's on the table."
Ward said the city will "make the moves" it must to protect taxpayers and to preserve the most essential municipal functions.
Ward said he hopes that Democrats and Republicans can pull together.
"The days of partisan politics," he said, "are something of the past. We need to collectively work together."
“We owe it to everybody to be as upfront and as real as possible,” Ward said.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Meetings KO'd tonight

Two city meetings this evening -- the Pine Lake Committee and GASB 45 Committee -- have been cancelled because of the weather. When they are rescheduled, I'll try to post the new times here.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

St. Paul's Young Republicans Club

Actual text describing the St. Paul Catholic High School Young Republicans Club group on Facebook:

For those of us who actually use our heads...
We all know why were republicans, Republican women look like sarah palin, spendo-crat women look like hillary clinton and nancy pelosi need i say anything more?
We are also republicans because we think that money is for people who have jobs and EARN their money, not government throwaways for people who are just gonna waste their time, drinking and having too many kids they cant afford
Because strong national security is most important. As ronald reagan said "peace through strength" if you want peace, be ready to defend our freedom and way of life, dont be a liberal wimp and expect the enemy to stop fighitng if we do.
Because the law and peoples rights are too important to let commie libs take our rights away.
Because we should control our own lives, money, etc, not the government
Because people who are smart, and who work hard SHOULD make more than an unskilled person who never wanted to take their education further, not stupid socialism, equalized income, thats just plain illogical.
If you want to be an officer let me know

I suspect that St. Paul's needs to push grammar a little harder.



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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Colapietro will wait for Wednesday to listen to Rell

State Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat, said he "forgot all about" Gov. Jodi Rell's speech tonight, but would have watched the basketball game anyway.
"We all know what's she's going to say: we're in bad shape; we're broke; we need a bunch of money; we can't raise taxes," Colapietro said.
He said he'll listen to her address to lawmakers Wednesday when she produces a proposed budget.
Even so, he said, her proposal won't pass as it is.
Colapietro said his own goals are to try to avoid layoffs and to preserve key services as much as possible.
Colapietro said that the Capitol today was abuzz with a more serious and heartbreaking piece of news -- the suicide over the weekend of a state senator's 13-year-old son.
"It's really sad," he said.
Recalling the dumb and dangerous things he did as a young man, Colapietro said that he wonders how he got through it all. Those can be tough years, he said.
"It must have been more than a kid could handle" in the case of the senator's son, Colapietro said.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City will feel 'pain' as state pares its budget, mayor says

Mayor Art Ward said tonight the city may have to prepare for its worst case scenario for the upcoming budget, a plan that could mean fewer municipal services and perhaps layoffs.
"There's going to be some pain," Ward said.
After listening to Gov. Jodi Rell's speech to the state, the mayor said the situation is dire.
"We're going to have sit down and take stock" after hearing the details of the state spending plan that Rell will unveil on Wednesday, Ward said.
The mayor said "a stark evaluation" is required.
He said the city has been gearing up for nine months to cope with what is turning out to be a potentially shattering state budget that could dramatically reduce aid to Bristol's schools and to City Hall generally.
If that happens, Ward said, "Everything's on the table."
Ward said the city will "make the moves" it must to protect taxpayers and to preserve the most essential municipal functions.
Ward said he hopes that Democrats and Republicans can pull together.
"The days of partisan politics," he said, "are something of the past. We meed to collectively work together."

Here's what Gov. Jodi Rell had to say during his address tonight:
Good evening and thank you for sharing a few minutes of your time.
An evening address such as this is unusual. But so, too, are these times in which we are living.
In fact, most of us have never witnessed the economic turmoil that now grips our nation.
It seems every day brings unexpected – and unwelcome – news. More layoffs. More bankruptcies. More business failures.
These are not just numbers found in a newspaper story or seen on the TV news. Behind every number is a person, a family – and their security and their dreams for the future.
Their individual stories are unique … but their fears, their concerns, are not – for we all share them.
It’s a time of great uncertainty. But this much I know: The people of Connecticut are strong, determined and resilient.
We have been challenged in the past – and we have prevailed. And we will prevail this time as well.
Ours is a state of innovation, ingenuity and intense pride.
To be sure, there will be times of trial and tears in the weeks and months ahead.
One thing that will never be in question is that we are in this together. United in purpose, bound by our humanity and our concern for one another.
I am proud to be your Governor and I am unbowed by the challenges before us.
For great challenges bring great opportunities – opportunities for much needed change.
In two days’ time I will be presenting a recommended state budget to the Legislature for the next two years. In many ways, it is a budget unlike any that has been presented in recent memory.
It is a budget that sets a fundamentally new vision for state government.
A smaller government.
A less expensive government.
A more efficient government.
And most importantly, a government that is more in line with what you – our taxpayers – can afford.
One thing you cannot afford is a higher tax bill. That’s why my budget does not raise taxes.
After all, it makes no sense to raise taxes when the taxes we already collect are down – way down.
Income tax revenue is down.
Sales tax revenue is down.
Corporate tax revenue is down.
People don’t have money to spend, because they have either lost their jobs or are afraid they will.
The deficit we are facing this current fiscal year, which ends June 30, is nearly $1 billion. The red ink for the next two years – the period covered by my proposed budget – is nearly $8 billion.
With revenues falling and deficits rising, it’s vital that state spending come down. And it does come down, under my budget.
I have worked long and hard on my plan – and yes, it calls for sacrifice. It makes cuts that will be painful.
My budget does what your family budget does – it pays for those things that we must have and it sets aside those things that are nice to have but that we cannot afford to pay for right now.
Families are making these same tough decisions every day – finding ways to cut back.
State government must do the same.
There will be some, particularly those in government, who say we can’t, we shouldn’t, cut so much.
And there will be special interests – many of whom get their money from government – saying, “How could you?”
They will be calling for new and higher taxes, saying it’s an issue of balance and fairness.
Of course they will never admit that it’s you who will be paying those taxes, because in the end it always is you. Tax increases balanced on your backs when you can least afford it is hardly fair.
Yes, they will protest and petition – in fact, many have already started, just knowing that I will not raise taxes and that I am cutting spending in my budget.
That is their right.
And they will be right in that some of the cuts will be painful – they are cuts I wish I did not have to make.
But it is my obligation as your Governor to do what is right in these tough economic times, to protect you and your family and to position Connecticut to succeed and to soar when the economic recovery comes.
And that means cutting spending. Living within our means. And not raising taxes at a time when people are losing jobs and are not able to pay the bills they currently have.
This is a time of great challenge and great opportunity. A time to remake, and refocus, state government.
A time to come together, to work together, to help one another through our difficulties.
We cannot control what happens on Wall Street or in Washington, but we can direct what actions we take here.
And I am confident that we will endure, that we will meet our challenges head on – and that we will create incredible new opportunities along the way.
Thank you for your time tonight and God Bless the Great State of Connecticut.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Bucking economic trend, Bristol's Grand List rises a bit

Despite a sour economy and a dip in the number of costly cars on the property tax rolls, the city’s Grand List rose slightly.
“We can probably consider ourselves somewhat fortunate,” Mayor Art Ward said.
The $4.3 billion tally of the city’s taxable property was up a little less $10 million over last year thanks to continuing growth at ESPN and a scattering of new homes and business across town, according to City Assessor Thomas DeNoto.
The rise is “a silver lining in a year that could have been devastating,” the assessor said.
Last year, the Grand List rose 38 percent on the heels of a revaluation that captured the residential real estate market at its peak. Another revaluation won’t take place for a few years.
The increase for this year – which comes at a time that a number of municipalities have seen their property tax rolls take a dip – is driven entirely by the rising value of real estate in Bristol.
The real estate roll, which covers buildings and land, rose $31.3 million, which includes 28 new homes, the L.A. Fitness building on Farmington Avenue and ESPN paying more for its buildings as tax exemptions fall away.
The biggest blow came on the motor vehicle list, which fell from $342 million to $320 million in a single year, the result of people buying fewer cars and a drop in the overall number of vehicles on the tax rolls.
DeNoto said the woes afflicting the Big Three automakers clearly filtered down to Bristol, where “gas guzzlers” fell out of favor and people stopped purchasing big new cars.
Ward said it’s natural that people are “tightening their belts” to cope with an increasingly severe downturn.
There are 54,479 motor vehicles on the city’s tax list, which is 192 fewer than a year ago, according to DeNoto’s figures.
The personal property tally – mostly the equipment used by businesses – fell $2.2 million over the past year, the Grand List shows.
“We’re lucky to have any growth” considering the decline in the motor vehicle and personal property lists, DeNoto said.
He said it shows the underlying strength of Bristol’s economy and programs that it could see new development during such a difficult period for so many businesses and residents.
Helping to keep the personal property from falling further were ESPN’s readiness to remain on the cutting edge of technology, DeNoto said, along with a number of other factors, including the road construction equipment in town for the Route 72 extension.
DeNoto said that he expects next year’s Grand List to remain “stagnant at best” given the economy, though car sales might pick up again.
It should help, too, that ESPN is still building, the new city industrial park is likely to have a couple of new factories and some other development is possible as well, DeNoto said.
The Grand List does not include hundreds of millions of dollars worth of exempt property, including Bristol Hospital, churches, cemeteries and parks.

ESPN towers over rest
The city’s largest taxpayer, ESPN, owns taxable property worth only $2.4 million more than last year.
That’s because much of its growth doesn’t count until it’s been on the property rolls for years.
But its $247.8 million tally on this year’s Grand List is almost eight times as much as the city’s number two taxpayer: the Covanta trash-burning plant.
Since taxpayers actually pick up the incinerator’s property tax bill, through the regional trash agency, that’s probably just as well.
City Assessor Thomas DeNoto said he’s not concerned that ESPN alone pays 5.6 percent of the city’s property taxes because the company is so clearly committed to remaining a part of the community.
“They’re just a fabulous property owner,” DeNoto said. “They’re always cutting edge.”
The company wouldn’t have built backup power plants to run its operations on the ESPN campus off Middle Street, he said, if it had any thoughts of moving away.
Besides, DeNoto said, ESPN has always been “very forthcoming” about its plans.
“They’re an open book to the city,” he said.
Other top taxpayers include Bristol Center, the current owner of the former General Motors plant on Chippens Hill; Bristol Plaza; Bristol Commons; Carpenter Reality, the owner of Pine Plaza; Lake Compounce; Connecticut Light & Power; and two manufacturers, Barnes Group and Theis Precision Steel.


TOP 10 Taxpayers

1 ESPN $247.8 million

2 COVANTA BRISTOL $42.8 million

4 BRISTOL CENTER $36.3 million

3 CONNECTICUT LIGHT & POWER CO. $29.4 million

5 CARPENTER REALTY COMPANY $25.1 million

6 BRISTOL PLAZA $22.6 million

7 LAKE COMPOUNCE $19.4 million

8 BRISTOL PLAZA $16.7 million

9 THEIS PRECISION STEEL $15.7 million

10 BARNES GROUP $13.9 million

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Rosenthal, Klocko on the radio this afternoon

If you're hard up for entertainment, two key city officials -- Comptroller Glenn Klocko and Jonathan Rosenthal, the economic development director -- are going to be interviewed live on WDRC starting at 2 p.m. WDRC is on the AM dial at 1360.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com