First a generous thank you to all of our representatives, Rep. Alfred Adinolfi, Rep. Brendan Sharkey, Rep. Cameron Staples, Rep. Peter Villano, Sen. Martin Looney and Sen. Crisco, for joining our forum tonight. It might have seemed like an ambush, but we really do appreciate all you have done for our town.
Next thank you to our knowledgeable and level-headed moderator, Meg Nowacki.
Thanks to all the representatives from the Hamden Board of Education for articulating the pressures they are under to do more with less: Chairman, Michael D'Agostino, Secretary, John Keegan, Policy Chair, Myron Hul , Cirriculum Committee members, Lynn Campo and Adam Sendroff, and Superintendent, Fran Rabinowitz.
Thanks to PTA members, parents, taxpayers and town government representatives for sharing their concerns about rising costs and the state supplimentation not keeping up with those increases.
The reason the PTA Council held this forum is basically this:
If the school system goes, so goes the neighborhood, right?
Yes, they have increased funding; yes, they have given us as much as they could given the general budget spending cap; and yes, we will be frugal and do more with less.
But what more can be done?
The legislators talked about the House and Senate 's "super majority" they should be able to use to override a Governor's veto. However, even though the Democrats out number the Republicans two to one in both houses, it's difficult to get two thirds to agree on putting their constiuentcy's agenda before the Governor's.
If they were able to exercise that veto power, here's what they'd do to relieve local property taxes:
- pass legislation to create a progressive income tax instead of a flat 5% for every taxpayer
- keep moving municiple employees to the state health plan as their contracts are renewed, creating a larger group which makes costs go down, ultimately forming a universal health care system
The bad news is that the budget for 2008 has already been set, and our delegation warned us that Governor Rell is likely to want to cut the budget to prepare for an economic downturn.
They also warned us that the Governor might propose a municipal property tax cap. That doesn't sound very helpful when your trying to raise more money. (Generally speaking, legistlation with the word "cap" in it is bad news.)
So, as a few folks asked tonight, "What can we do?"
Well, we took a very big action tonight by getting all our legislators together to let them know how worried we are for the health of our town.
After that, you need to write letters, make phone calls, and visit to each of your representatives, and those on the committees that speak to your specific issue. The key is often getting the ear of their aide. Contact the Governor's office as well.
Try not to just complain, but bring ideas on how to make things better. In order to be informed on the issues, you can subscribe to bill and calendar updates at the Connecticut General Assembly web site.
Both the Connecticut PTA and the Connecticut League of Women Voters have an active legislative team that focus on many of the issues we discussed tonight (educational funding, tax fairness, healthcare, regional development and cost sharing).
Finally, at our next PTA Council meeting (Thursday, February 7 @ Ridge Hill), we'll present a resolution that outlines what we'd like to see happen at the local and state level with regards to funding our school system, as a goal to aim towards.
The key is simply exercising your right to express your opinion and the privilage to take part in the democratic process. Use it or loose it.
As always, thanks for your support and attention.
Marjorie
