Sen. Kane Stumps Malloy Administration on Budget Change’s Impact on Taxpayers [Waterbury Republican American]

Article as it appeared in the Waterbury Republican American

HARTFORD — The governor’s budget plan could add a costly and unanticipated wrinkle for stalled contract talks between the city of Waterbury and its teachers union. It also could affect other towns and cities whose school labor contracts go to binding arbitration.

The Waterbury labor dispute will progress to arbitration on Feb. 15 if state-mandated mediation talks fail to resolve it. The city and the 1,549-member union missed a Jan. 21 deadline for agreeing on a new contract.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing a budget change that may have implications for cities and taxpayers if school contract disputes go to arbitration. The proposed revision to town aid centers on a community’s ability to afford teacher raises.

Malloy wants to eliminate state reimbursements for state-owned properties that are exempt from local property taxes. He wants to use that money to boost education aid.

His budget plan redistributes this $73.6 million a year to the Education Cost Sharing program. The ECS grants are the largest single subsidy to the state’s 169 municipalities.

Each municipality’s share of the additional $73.6 million would not be counted toward its minimum budget requirement under the ECS program. It is illegal to spend less than this minimum.

Sen. Robert Kane, R-Watertown, questioned Benjamin Barnes, Malloy’s budget director, about the implications of this change for teacher contract disputes. He was mainly concerned about binding arbitration.

Members of the Appropriations Committee questioned Barnes about the governor’s two-year, $43.8 billion budget plan. Kane is the panel’s ranking Republican senator.

State arbitrators are statutorily required to weigh a municipality’s ability to pay in rendering a contract award.

Barnes was stumped when Kane asked if teacher unions would be able to make a case that a municipality has a greater ability to pay because of the $73.6 million that Malloy would redirect toward education spending.

“I don’t know the answer to that question,” Barnes said. “I will certainly give that some consideration and speak to others that are more knowledgeable about it. Certainly, I’d like to know more about that.”

He expressed doubts that the governor’s proposed change would affect the ability of a local government to absorb teacher raises.

Barnes said no town or city receives less state aid under the $43.8 billion plan despite this particular revision and proposed changes to town aid.

Kane said the administration appears to be making a policy decision for towns that education should be their priority.

“We are making a policy decision for the state. We are recommending a policy decision,” Barnes said. “Obviously, there are others involved in that, but we are recommending a policy that the state’s focus should be on education. The local decision about how much to spend other than their minimum budget requirements is still a local decision.”

He said most towns and cities spend more on education that the minimum budget requirement that state law mandates.

“Most communities of their own volition — 99 percent of all communities — spend well more than the minimum budget requirement because they also think education is important enough to justify those larger expenses,” Barnes said.