Rosenthal Takes Local Concerns To Washington

By Steve Bigham

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal was back in town Tuesday afternoon after spending the early part of the week in Washington, D.C., at the Congressional City Conference of the National League of Cities.

As a member of the board of directors for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), Mr Rosenthal was part of the state delegation of public officials who attended the event.

Among the issues discussed were tax cuts, taxing Internet sales, community economic development, unplanned growth, education, telecommunications, preemption of local authority, infrastructure, the environment, electric deregulation, and diversity.

Mr Rosenthal came away from the conference with a renewed sense of just how similar Newtown’s problems are to those of other towns throughout the country. Almost every community has a shortage of revenue and an increased demand in services, he said.

“A lot of that has to do with those at the state and federal levels not carrying the load,” Mr Rosenthal explained, referring to statements made at the conference regarding President George W. Bush’s proposed income tax cuts for next year.

“It was sort of discouraging because based on what we were hearing, it sounded like there will be reductions in a lot of areas which are going to impact towns and cities. It’s fine for the President and Congress to cut taxes, but that leaves it up to the towns to raise property taxes.”

 “I’m not opposing tax reductions, but what good is it if you get a very modest income tax reduction, and the end result is a large property tax increase?”

As for taxing Internet sales, the federal government is now considering a lift on this moratorium, which is reportedly hurting state sales tax revenue, which once again put the tax burden squarely on the backs of homeowners.

On Tuesday, Mr Rosenthal and others met with Connecticut’s congressional delegation, including Congressman Jim Maloney and Senator Christopher Dodd, to urge them to pass legislation that takes the burden off the local property owner.

“At least we made our voices heard in great numbers that they need to adequately fund the programs that the federal government had promised to fund in the past. For example, special education. Congress has never lived up to its promises or properly funded its mandates,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Nearly 8,000 local leaders from across the country attended the conference, including 40 from Connecticut.