Letter to East Hartford Legislators: HELP

I sent the following letter to our East Hartford legislative delegation.

As you are no doubt aware East Hartford is in a budgetary crisis. Mayor Currey has proposed an increase in property taxes of 9.2%, an increase the residents and taxpayers of East Hartford, you included, cannot bear.

With your past experience in our Town government you can no doubt relate to the Mayor’s plight and understand the difficulty she and the Town Council face in this time of economic hardship. It can be no light task to balance the runaway costs facing a local government such as ours and maintain community affordability.

We need your help as both a neighbor in our community and our representative in Hartford. East Hartford families already face a local tax burden exceeding 11% of their gross income, far more than their State and Federal burden combined. If this tax increase is implemented, the hardest hit will be those who can afford it least.

According to December CT Department of Labor data greater than 10% of East Hartford workers are currently unemployed. Yet, if implemented, this increase will impose non-negotiable increases in the cost of living for all East Hartford residents. For example, a homeowner on Chapman Street can expect an increase in their mortgage escrow of $40 per month. Their neighbor who rents in a multi-family will see a rent increase of $20 per month.

There is not often a lot that a State Representative can do for a municipality in these situations but there is something you can do. East Hartford is being brutalized by two well meaning State mandates; Minimum Expenditure Requirements and Binding Arbitration. These State laws share a common flaw in that they fail to provide a municipality with adequate room to make the difficult decisions required in hard economic times.

East Hartford’s schools are experiencing lower enrollment and the hard reality that we simply do not have the same level of spending ability today that we did yesterday or the day before. Yet, due to MER, East Hartford cannot realign its education budget without sacrificing two State dollars for every Town dollar in realigns. This is unfair and counterproductive for elected officials, taxpayers and students alike. East Hartford must have the freedom to set an education budget that serves the students and taxpayers, not State statutes.

East Hartford is also struggling with the reality of contractual labor cost increases. While East Hartford’s grand list has continued to decline and private sector workers have had to forego raises and in many cases accept permanent wage reductions and schedule cutbacks these same workers are required by past practice of municipal contract negotiators to carry the cost of raises for municipal employees. In some cases, these employees contractually receive multiple raises per year.

In order for East Hartford to achieve control over its budget, the Town must have the ability to negotiate labor contracts that are reasonable and in line with private sector compensation, free from the burdens of poor past negotiation choices. While we appreciate the work our municipal employees do, we are faced with the reality that although we may desire to provide Cadillac compensation, we cannot afford it at this time.

I ask you, along with the remainder of East Hartford’s legislative delegation, to consider introducing as new bills, or amendments to existing bills, two emergency measures to pull East Hartford from the brink. First, an appropriate amendment to Chapter 172 of the Connecticut General Statutes providing an exemption for East Hartford from Minimum Budget Requirements and Minimum Expenditure Requirements. Second, an appropriate amendment to Chapters 113 and 166 of the Connecticut General Statutes providing an exemption for East Hartford from binding arbitration awards.