Update On The Road To Connecticut -- January 27, 2018

Earlier this month:

From The Hartford Courant: business leaders say state economy is in crisis.

Jim Loree, CEO of Stanley, Black & Decker, opened the meeting with a sprawling diagnosis of Connecticut’s fiscal ills. In 2001, Loree said, Connecticut was ranked the eighth-most competitive state in the country by the Beacon Hill Institute, “competitiveness” being a measure of fiscal policy, quality of life, labor supply and infrastructure. By 2016, he said, Connecticut had slipped to 43rd by the same index.

Outmigration is a well-documented phenomenon in Connecticut, but Loree singled out a telling statistic: On average, a family that moves into Connecticut has a household income of $93,000. The average income of a family moving out is $123,000. With such a fluctuating tax base, Connecticut’s income stream is “incredibly volatile,” Loree said, rendering the state “very vulnerable to market downturns.”

A disproportionate amount of tax revenues flow from a handful of well-heeled enclaves, he added. Thirty-six [percent] of the state’s personal income tax revenue comes from 10 towns, including West Hartford, Glastonbury and Fairfield County towns. Twelve percent of all personal income tax comes from 357 families alone, Loree said.

Today, from The WSJ, the state's mayors asked the governor to "save them" from collective bargaining.

Connecticut mayors grappling with rising retirement costs and sinking economies this week issued a distress signal to lawmakers in Hartford: Save us from our public unions.

The state would be in a “stronger position if we don’t negotiate for benefits,” Joe DeLong, the executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, told a committee convened by the legislature to restore fiscal stability and economic growth.

The conference of municipalities implored the state to end collective-bargaining for pensions and health-care benefits as well as limit binding arbitration when unions and local politicians deadlock during contract negotiations. This usually results in a sweet deal for the unions.

“We’re suggesting it’s very difficult in the state of Connecticut under the current labor agreements and under binding arbitration,” said Waterbury mayor Neil O’Leary, a Democrat. His town’s health care and pension costs make up 30% of its budget.
Gov. Dannel Malloy, after multiple tax increases, last year tried to close the state’s $3.5 billion deficit by shifting teacher pension costs to municipalities. Mayors warned that this would lead to property tax hikes. The legislature punted some pension payments to the future, but mayors are worried that they will eventually be required to pick up more of the bill.

Much, much more at the link.