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ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
DECEMBER 20, 2004
A Special Meeting of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Tallarita in the Enfield Room, Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, December 20, 2004 at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL-CALL - Present were Councilmen Crowley, Dodd, Edgar, Egan, Fiore, Kaupin, Mangini, Tait, and Tallarita. Councilmen Peruta and Reveruzzi were absent. Also present were Town Manager, Scott Shanley; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Christopher W. Bromson and Director of Public Works, John Kazmarski.
DISCUSSION WITH SENATOR JOHN KISSEL AND STATE REPRESENTATIVES KATHY TALLARITA AND STEPHEN JARMOC
Chairman Tallarita requested input on where the General Assembly stands at this time regarding issues that effect Enfield.
Rep. Tallarita stated at this time things are still in the air as to where the agenda is definitely going. She noted big issues include more money for education and property tax reform. As concerns budget numbers, she noted she has been speaking with their two future leaders and there are some conflicting numbers as to what has come out of OPM and what the Governor is saying. She added those numbers are still being debated. She pointed out their numbers are almost half of what's coming out of the Governor's office.
Rep. Jarmoc stated he's unsure if there will be much excess money coming to the towns. He stated his belief this will be another lean year.
Senator Kissel stated Mr. Shanley faxed him the information regarding the notice issue. He noted he and Rep. Tallarita have discussed this. He stated he agreed to submit legislation regarding this.
Senator Kissel stated he has been working very hard on the sewage treatment funds. He noted the administration has asked that he continue to be a point person on this issue. He stated he's cautiously optimistic regarding this matter. He pointed out he has spoken specifically to the highest levels of the state government, and they know how important this issue is to Enfield. He noted the state would appreciate Enfield being patient until after the Governor gives her budget address which will be the first week in February. He reassured the Council that Enfield is not being ignored.
Chairman Tallarita stated it seems the economy is picking up in a lot of states, but Connecticut seems to be lagging behind. He questioned the reason for this. Senator Kissel stated his impression the Governor's relationship with state employees is far better than it was with the previous governor. He added he would not be surprised to see friendly agreements regarding where they stand financially which will help the bottom line tremendously. He stated his belief state employees will really do their share. He went on to state Connecticut isn't a sunbelt state, has an aging population, and a lot of revenues are predicated on the stock market which is somewhat sluggish. He pointed out Connecticut also has concerns related to energy costs that other states don't have. He noted if they take Fairfield County out of the mix, Connecticut just isn't as rich a state as people seem to believe. He stated the real estate market for Hartford County has gone up in value, but job growth is predicted to be anemic. He noted a policy study recently completed proves that employers are hesitant to add jobs due to health costs.
Senator Kissel stated his belief one of the biggest challenges in the coming year is what can they do to try and make health insurance costs for employers more manageable so that they're willing to take a risk and hire new employees.
Rep. Tallarita agreed with Senator Kissel in that the health care issue is huge. She went on to note that Connecticut has always been a slow recovery state. Senator Kissel stated he's hopeful they will be doing better by the end of 2005.
Councilman Tait stated his belief the tax structure contributes to the reluctance of employers to create jobs or expand. He noted last year the House and Senate talked about meaningful tax reform. He questioned whether anyone sees anything really meaningful coming forward as concerns tax reform.
Rep. Tallarita stated she has not heard anything because they are getting new leaders. She added she can't get into specifics, but she's aware of at least two plans being worked on within the House. She noted one plan relates directly to property tax relief and another plan relates to the overall tax structure, including corporate taxes and small business taxes.
As concerns meaningful tax reform, Senator Kissel pointed out that money has to come from somewhere. He noted about a third of the states in the country have a tremendous reliance on property taxes. He stated if they are going to take away from the burden on the property taxes, there's the question of how they're going to make that up and make it as seamless as possible. He noted they have to come to a decision as to where that money is going to come from. He stated the natural source is to change the income tax and to have that drive more of the discussion, however, he does not believe the Legislature is at that point yet.
Councilman Tait questioned if anyone on the Senate side is working on these issues. Senator Kissel stated his belief there will be hundreds of bill proposals for the January legislative session to address these issues.
Councilman Tait stated there needs to be some kind of tax system that will provide an indicator that guarantees municipalities some sort of stable indicator of what they're going to receive every year.
Rep. Jarmoc stated they do have a study group that will come out with a report that looks at all of the taxes.
Senator Kissel suggested the Council start with the Governor's budget presentation as a benchmark.
Mr. Shanley stated there's a very specific bill that will be re-introduced again this year and this would take the first step to do a comprehensive analysis of the impact of different taxes on different demographics of individuals and corporations and what kind of tax impacts what kind of people in what way.
Councilman Fiore stated the Town Council does start with the Governor's budget and this is something that the Council has been doing under the Town Manager's leadership. He reminded Senator Kissel about the status of the state's intent to purchase Asnuntuck Community College. He stated his understanding the state has been raising some revenues in some items, i.e., the ECS, but by the same token, they are cutting back on the commitment for the pilots for the state-owned property, the pilot funding on machinery and equipment, and the pilot money for the housing authority land. He pointed out these are all things that Enfield and other towns have a big commitment in. He stated he's particularly bothered by the machinery and equipment. He added his belief the state originally had a very good intent in that they didn't want local communities to tax machinery and equipment because they wanted to even the playing field throughout the state, rather than having towns competing with each other. He noted at one time there was an 80-90% reimbursement for machinery and equipment, and now they're down to 65-70%. He stated the Legislature indicated towns could raise that tax on their own, however, that defeats the purpose and intent of the law. He stated his belief as the state finds more money for ECS and other education grants, they can't lessen their commitment in the other areas.
Councilman Fiore stated he's very interested in the prevailing wage rate and he feels the cap should be indexed or raised. He stated his belief towns are at a disadvantage because the prevailing wage has overtaken the amount of money they're spending on projects, therefore, it's very difficult to do any medium-range projects.
Councilman Fiore stated he's a believer in binding arbitration, however, he does not believe an arbitrator should look at some percentage of a town's general fund.
Senator Kissel stated he passed that law. He noted when the arbitrator makes a determination as to a town's ability to pay, up to 5%, on an annualized basis, can be held in reserve and they can't look at that.
Councilman Fiore stated his hope they will be looking at the probate court issue. Mr. Shanley stated the reason they're operating in the red is due to the health insurance benefit and salaries for probate justices, regardless of the number of hours they work. He stated his understanding Councilman Fiore's concern is that this cost, which is built into the system, will get shifted to the municipalities. He stated his belief they would be better off fixing the problem instead of shifting the problem.
As concerns the Education Cost Sharing, Councilman Fiore stated his impression a town such as Enfield doesn't really make out if the cap is lifted and can actually lose some monies. He stated he would just as soon leave the cap on because it doesn't make sense for a town such as Enfield to have the cap lifted if Enfield is going to lose revenue. He went on to state that if they don't want to send additional funding to ECS directly, he would advocate looking at the special education needs because that area seems to be where all the growth and expenditure is going in education.
Councilman Fiore stated he would like to see the agro programs treated just like the technical programs.
Councilman Fiore stated he would like to see some bottle bill reform. He noted he's bothered that distributors can keep the unclaimed returns. He stated his belief this should at least go back to the general fund. Senator Kissel stated distributors feel they would have no economic incentive to do the returns.
Councilman Mangini stated her understanding the state will be looking at new ethics legislation. Rep. Tallarita stated she's not aware of anything being proposed as yet. Senator Kissel stated the Governor has promised she will come forward with some proposals, but those will be specifically aimed at the state system.
Councilman Mangini questioned if the state will be looking at any funding to address the issue of homeless people, i.e., housing. Senator Kissel stated there will be a fight for all the available funding. Rep. Jarmoc stated his belief everyone is talking about cutting spending and being very keen on property tax and spending as little as they possibly can to keep the state going, therefore, he doesn't know if they will be instituting many new programs that spend additional monies.
Councilman Egan questioned if there's any thought to looking into the retooling of the Pequot monies. Rep. Tallarita stated they get 25% of the slots. Mr. Shanley stated the amount of money is fixed while the revenues have gone up, therefore, the percentage has actually gone down.
Senator Kissel stated his belief the notion of using Pequot monies as an instrument to try to distribute more funds to municipalities has a lot of merit. He stated sometimes formulas are put together really skewed toward the large urban areas. He noted the current formula isn't actually too bad for the towns.
Councilmen Egan stated her understanding they don't take complete advantage of their federal matched dollars because of the cap. She questioned if there's any way they could take advantage of more of the dollars in certain areas without having to spend a lot more money. Senator Kissel stated the Governor and other people on the Republican side are very concerned about taking too much stuff outside from under the cap. He stated his belief there will be a big fight about what gets taken out from under the cap. He stated his belief the cap serves a very valuable purpose.
Councilman Crowley questioned whether the representatives will get involved in property tax relief. He noted he would like to see representation from Enfield. Rep. Tallarita indicated she would pass on anything she learns about this issue.
Councilman Crowley questioned whether there's anything coming up regarding gas taxes. He pointed out Massachusetts is 25 cents cheaper. Rep. Tallarita stated they would have to find $12 million dollars for every penny they cut the gas tax. Senator Kissel stated he would love to reduce the gasoline tax, however, he believes they'll have their hands full making sure they don't raise the gas tax.
Councilman Crowley raised the issue of charging tolls in Connecticut as a way of raising revenue. Rep. Tallarita stated this issue was discussed last year, and one of the biggest concerns was moving to the easy pass, and it's extremely expensive to put those tolls in.
Councilman Crowley stated Enfield needs help to collect some federal money, i.e., the Family Resource funding and some of the projects that need to be done in Enfield, i.e., the South Maple Street bridge.
Councilman Kaupin stated Enfield is hoping to see the commuter rail proposal go through and any feedback regarding this would be appreciated.
Councilman Kaupin questioned if there's been much feedback from residents in the community as to what they're looking for. Rep. Tallarita stated it's been quiet for her. Senator Kissel stated he has heard concerns raised by other communities regarding the property tax issue.
Mr. Shanley suggested they not close their minds to other revenue sources besides property tax and the income tax.
Councilman Edgar noted some corporations get tax relief and then they outsource jobs. He stated he would like to look at a penalty when that happens, or they should cut that tax relief down.
Councilman Edgar stated they need to look at military that are going overseas and the declining National Guard enlistments. He added there's a problem with some of these families going on relief. Senator Kissel stated there will be a veteran's committee specifically for veterans' legislation.
Councilman Fiore agreed with Councilman Edgar in that they really need to look at outsourcing of jobs, particularly overseas.
Chairman Tallarita agreed it's very important to push the sale of Asnuntuck Community College and look at the property tax issue.
Senator Kissel suggested another meeting in April.
MOTION #7508 by Councilman Tait, seconded by Councilman Mangini to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel Matters and Pending Litigation.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #7508 adopted 9-0-0, and the meeting stood recessed at 7:20 p.m.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Executive Session of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Tallarita at 7:22 p.m.
ROLL-CALL - Present were Councilmen Crowley, Dodd, Edgar, Egan, Fiore, Kaupin, Mangini, Tait, and Tallarita. Also present were Town Manager, Scott Shanley; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Christopher Bromson.
Personnel Matters and Pending Litigation were discussed with no action or votes being taken.
Chairman Tallarita adjourned the Executive Session at 7:30 p.m. He reconvened the Special Meeting at 7:31 p.m. and stated that during Executive Session they discussed Personnel Matters and Pending Litigation with no action or votes being taken.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION #7509 by Councilman Tait, seconded by Councilman Mangini to adjourn.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #7509 adopted 9-0-0, and the meeting stood adjourned at 7:32 p.m.
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