Gov. budget

would cost us

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM --- Should the governor's proposed budget pass, small towns like Putnam will see massive mill rate increases.

Mary Calorio, Putnam's new town administrator, said the biggest impact would come from Governor Dannel Malloy's proposal that towns take on one third of the state's retirement plan payment for teachers. For Putnam, that would be $790,000.  The town of Killingly would have to kick in $1.7 million.

She said teachers are mandated to contribute to the state retirement plan but the state has not always paid in its share. The teacher's retirement plan is now "dramatically underfunded," Calorio said. Now the towns are being asked to cover it. She added a majority of towns (Putnam included) do their own retirement funds for town workers and contribute every year. Putnam is 100 percent funded for its town workers.  Even if the Appropriations Committee in Hartford softens that proposal this year, she said the issue of payments to the teachers retirement fund is "not likely to go away."

"The state has not made their effort with contributions and now it's hit a critical point," she said. If that proposal stays, Calorio said Putnam's share would probably increase to over $1 million in subsequent years. 

In addition the grant for municipal aid for roads and highways repairs has been eliminated. Putnam will lose $171,800.

The governor's budget would allow towns to tax colleges and hospitals in their towns. This would remove the PILOT reimbursement the town gets from the state. If that remains in the budget, Putnam has the potential to receive $556,000 from Day Kimball Healthcare. "But where would Day Kimball get that money?" she asked. 

If everything stays the way the governor proposed, Putnam taxpayers would be paying 4-plus mills more.

Calorio said "in all my years, this is the most impactful."

What is the town doing about this now? Calorio said the town is trying, with its state representatives, to get clarifications. In the meantime, she said, the town is working with the facts they have and working with the "worst case scenario."

Malloy's proposed budget goes to the Appropriations Committee for review. "The Appropriations Committee generally does not go along with the governor," she said. Committee members are hearing from towns plus the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM). The CCM is "really putting a voice to municipal concerns," she said. "They are giving us a voice. They are giving us a platform." 

She expects some softening, some change in a positive manner. Meanwhile, the Putnam Board of Finance will work with its proposed budget and may be able to modify it when the Appropriations Committee comes out with its revised budget at the end of April. The town does not have the luxury of waiting too long as the town charter sets dates for budget hearings and votes.  One mill equals $595,000.

Calorio said "It's a crystal ball thing and none of us have that."