Linares Urges Support for Haddam Funding Legislation

April 1, 2015

Sen. Art Linares is co-sponsoring legislation which aims to get Haddam its fair share of education funding from the state.
The proposal, which will get a public hearing Thursday (Apr. 2) at the State Capitol, would amend state law to require that Haddam not receive less than 50 percent of the state’s education cost sharing (ECS) grant formula.

“Haddam is significantly underfunded by this grant,” Sen. Linares said. “This underfunding puts added pressure on property taxpayers and makes it harder for Haddam to compete for businesses. This is a fairness issue, and I hope my fellow lawmakers will see it that way.”

When the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant shut down permanently, Haddam’s grand list dropped dramatically but the town’s ECS allocation was never adjusted upward for that loss.

Linares noted that Haddam is being funded by the state as if the power plant was still in operation.

“We’ve got to get this funding formula back on track,” Sen. Linares said. “I urge area residents to speak out in favor of this common sense legislation.”

Linares said residents may email testimony in favor of the bill to [email protected] . The email can be as brief as you like. Put “Senate Bill 816” in the email’s subject line. Residents can copy Linares on the email at [email protected] .