Farmington and Hartford are on the hook for more money than they expected for school construction projects for now.
Both municipalities learned this not long after the leader of the state funding program was fired, as records are under review and a federal investigation is underway into the handling of the program.
Now lawmakers are looking into how to get these districts what they were promised.
A joint hearing is slated on the topic for the Finance, Revenue and Bonding and Education Committees Monday.
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“There is concern for the entire state delegation, Farmington, for town leaders in Farmington, and I think many constituents as well,” said State Sen. Derek Slap, D-West Hartford, who represents people living in this district.
Farmington received a letter from the state in December which says after a review the state would reimburse about 24-percent for a certain portion of its school construction project, not the almost 29-percent town officials say they were slated.
The chair of the Farmington High School building committee tells NBC Connecticut that’s $915,000 the town expected the state to cover.
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Adding to the confusion, people living in town approved this higher percentage in a referendum vote.
“In the whole scheme of things, it’s a relatively small amount of money for the state school construction program and the budget, but it is a significant amount for the taxpayers in Farmington," said Slap, who says he’s optimistic there will be a solution in Farmington.
In a statement, Rep. Mike Demicco, D-Farmington said:
"This news is certainly frustrating for Farmington residents and local leaders. Even though this issue for Farmington involves less than $1 million out of a total project cost of approximately $130 million, the Farmington legislative delegation has assured the Board of Education and Town Council, in person, that we are working to 'make Farmington whole', and I am quite confident that this will happen."
Meanwhile, state leaders look to restore confidence in this school construction project. The new Acting Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services addressed the issue during a recording of NBC Connecticut's Face the Facts.
“The taxpayers deserve those answers, as does our legislature. So not only are we doing that internal review with internal auditors and our own internal staff, but we are really on the brink of hiring an external auditing firm that should actually be on board this week, to begin doing that work,” said Michelle Gilman.
Hartford is in a similar situation with their Bulkeley High School construction project.
In a letter to the state this week, the City of Hartford’s Corporation Counsel Howard Rifkin wrote, that this is a fifty percent reduction in reimbursement than the city was expecting.
“A reversal of your office’s commitment at this late date, now that the City has already incurred significant cost and expense in reliance on OSCG&R’s initial representations, would result in significant hardship to the City of Hartford,” Rifkin said in the letter.
Speaker of the House Matt Ritter says lawmakers are looking into how many other municipalities may be impacted.
