DeLauro Delivers Solemn $$ News To Town Leaders

The reality of balancing a municipal budget with less revenue and an increase in services has been complicated by a cloud of uncertainty over how much dough towns will get from the federal government, said Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. Republicans in Washington are moving fast on cutting billions from the federal spending tab.

That's what Mayor April Capone and a roomful of her peers from the 3rd District came to New Haven to discuss last Friday with DeLauro.

“There are some tough cuts in the president’s budget that will affect us,” said DeLauro. “They [first selectmen and mayors] always have to do more with less, but we’re talking about a whole lot less.”

Programs in danger of getting the hatchet include the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), as well as Tiger II money for the Hartford-Springfield rail line, she said. Before the current federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30, the federal budget could be trimmed by $60 billion. (The municipal fiscal year ends June 30.)

Nationwide, CDBG would be cut by $300 million -- $3.3 million of which is destined for Connecticut.

The budget has passed the House and is expected to hit the Senate for debate this week. It would then be presented to President Barack Obama for final approval. If it passes as is, Connecticut will lose $117 million, DeLauro said.

“My concern is CDBG,” said Capone. “That program affects so many people … it affects some of our neediest residents.”

Capone’s concern emerged as the central theme among most of her colleagues.

“It’s critical to our community,” Hamden Mayor Scott D. Jackson said of CDBG funds.

“It certainly will have an impact in North Haven,” said the town's First Selectman Michael J. Freda. He noted that approximately 9.5 percent of North Haven’s revenue comes from state-related aid, like the CDBG funds, which is filtered down through the governmental hierarchy.

Connecticut’s municipalities are in the midst of crafting their budgets for the next fiscal year, and the uncertainty over federal funding is troubling, say the local leaders. Many are building their budgets based on what they got for FY 2011.

 “Be as conservative as you can be and hold your breath,” said Capone.

“You have to look at different ways of doing business,” Mayor Jackson said.

For East Haven, this meant negotiating a freeze on raises for town employees. Capone said her decision to forego a raise the last three years is one way in which she attempts to lead by example. She said she'll also forego a raise in her next budget.

“We all have a responsibility to watch out for the taxpayers,” West Haven Mayor John Picard said.

With the state’s unemployment at 9 percent and people still in jeopardy of losing their homes, many acknowledged that the nation still has not risen from the depths of the recession..

DeLauro advised the town leaders that strategic cuts will be necessary, “but don’t make them on the backs of the taxpayers who can least afford it. We will not rebound if we don’t invest in people and education and worker training."

One area where DeLauro sees opportunity to make up for the proposed cuts is to jettison certain subsidies, like a $40-billion package for the oil industry.

But DeLauro said things might start looking a little greener for Connecticut. The president’s FY 2012 budget proposal, for which deliberations have not yet begun, calls for a gain of $113 million for the state.