The group that represents Connecticut’s small towns is urging lawmakers to override the governor’s veto, saying the Republican budget did more to make sure they were protected from budget cuts in the middle of a fiscal crisis.
Leo Paul, the Republican First Selectman from Litchfield, said the proposed reductions in Gov. Dannel Malloy’s Executive Order are untenable, especially because of the impact on smaller governments.
In addition, he said any plan to divert funds in order to pay for teacher pensions, Paul argued, amounts to an unfunded mandate.
“The governor’s budget intends to zero out Litchfield, 1.4 million dollars, zeroing out our ECS, over nine hundred thousand dollars that we’re forced to pay into the teacher’s pension. That’s 2.3 million dollars in aid that we, or additional funding, that we would have to pay out.”
In larger cities, however, they are not nearly as enthusiastic about the Republican plan that passed.
Republican Mayor Erin Stewart from New Britain found herself in a position where each budget proposal cut her city, but in different ways. She’s resigned to the fact that New Britain, with a $245 million overall budget, is going to take some kind of a cut.
Stewart said, “At the end of the day is that no scenario is going to be great, no scenario will be perfect. No scenario is going to make any city or town happy.”
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The vote on a possible override of Malloy’s veto is expected in October.
