The state has made recent changes to help taxpayers’ wallets – lower the income tax, cap car taxes and raise the property tax credit.
But what about keeping down the costs that drive property tax bills? Gov. Ned Lamont believes the state can help towns find savings.
“What can we do to hold down costs?” Lamont said during a press conference in Wethersfield.
Lamont is proposing to eliminate hurdles some towns face when trying to partner with neighboring municipalities to share resources.
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Towns already can partner together to provide services, and many do. But in some cases, town charters or collective bargaining agreements get in the way.
“We need this bill, we need to collaborate more,” Wethersfield Mayor Ken Lesser said.
This will let towns share employees, from tax assessor to health and building inspectors. They could also combine ambulances and housing authorities.
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Towns could partner together, pay a bigger town to fill the void or purchase services through regional councils of government.
Lamont stressed this change is not a mandate, making it different from past attempts to get more regionalization. That distinction is important to republicans.
“People like home rule, people like to govern themselves, they don’t like to be forced into a relationship with a town that doesn’t share their values,” Rep. David Rutigliano (R-Trumbull) said.
