Date: Fri 21-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

state-budget-ECS-grants

Full Text:

State Plans To Cut Newtown's Ed Funding

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Newtown stands to lose more than $600,000 in state funding for education

during the next two years under the $20.47 billion 1997-99 state budget

proposed by Gov John G. Rowland.

The school district received $4,209,666 from the state this year in Education

Cost Sharing (ECS) and public school transportation grants. Under Gov

Rowland's proposed budget, which now consolidates these two grants, the

funding will be cut by $242,516 in fiscal 1997-98 and by another $391,770 the

following year, for a total decrease of $634,286, about 15 percent, over two

years.

Herb Rosenthal, Newtown Board of Education chairman, said that although cuts

in funding for education had been projected, the new figures still came as a

surprise. The actual amount of the reduction for Newtown will be tough to deal

with, he said, because the school district's budget has very little latitude

as it is.

"I disagree with the governor," Mr Rosenthal said. "If anything, education

spending should be going the other direction especially because the state

requires so much of local school districts that it doesn't adequately

reimburse."

Mr Rosenthal said that pending bills in the legislature would create new

mandates in special education yet reimbursements will be either delayed or

insufficient.

"If Newtown is doing too good a job in special ed, and people tend to move to

the community, it costs the town more. Consequently, the town gets penalized

for doing a good job," he said.

The governor's proposed budget figures also include a drop in non-public

school pupil transportation of $4,983 in Newtown over the next two years,

reducing this grant to $14,856, although this funding is based on each school

district's projected growth rate and is subject to change.

The PILOT grant - payment in lieu of taxes for state-owned property, including

Fairfield Hills and Garner Correctional Institution - will drop by $18,975 in

fiscal 1997-98, but the town will receive an additional $74,528 that year in

its Mashantucket Pequot Fund Grant. No significant changes are projected in

both grants in the 1998-99 fiscal year.

In other grant areas, adult education funding would increase by $1,114 over

the next two years for a total of $4,625 in 1999. Miscellaneous grants, a

category which includes eight grant programs including child day care and

youth service bureaus, would gain $10,920. The state's town aid road fund

grant for Newtown will remain at $143,985 a year under the governor's budget

and the Local Capital Improvement (LoCIP) Program will remain at $183,476.

Combining all of these state grants, Newtown stands to lose $184,216 in

1997-98 and $386,525 in 1998-99, for a total decrease of $570,740. Each $1.5

million in spending equals 1 mill on the local tax rate, so the town will

either have to cut spending or increase other revenue to offset the loss in

state grants.

Eliminate The Rail Lines

Gov Rowland said his two-year state budget will raise spending only slightly

while at the same time cutting most residents' income taxes, lopping a nickel

off the gasoline tax and eliminating 4,000 state jobs.

The virtual no-growth budget comes with a price, however. Gov Rowland

recommended a 10 percent cut in funding for state universities and colleges,

where he said administration costs were out of control. He also proposed

eliminating three rail lines in Connecticut - Metro-North's Danbury and

Waterbury lines and Shoreline East, which runs between New Haven and New

London - raising bus fares and the diesel fuel tax, and repealing a $120

million motor vehicle property tax credit that was slated to go into effect

this summer, all to offset the drop in gas tax revenues.

Under the governor's plan, bus service would be increased to replace the rail

lines. Currently the state subsidizes $6.59 of each trip on the Danbury rail

line, which carries 565,318 riders per year, and Gov Rowland said bus

transportation would require only a $2.06 million subsidy. But while the state

subsidizes the rail lines by $3.7 million a year, that cost is offset by a

$1.8 million federal grant for the Danbury line alone.

Officials from towns such as Danbury and Bethel, where new train stations

recently were built, have vowed to fight the governor's proposal. The state

spent $88 million improving the Danbury rail line and completed Danbury's new

$5 million station only five months ago.

While slashing taxes, Gov Rowland recommended $37 million to fund programs and

initiatives recommended by the task force looking to improve and integrate

Connecticut's urban schools. He added $16 million for new preschool programs

in cities and $20 million over two years to wire and upgrade the computer

capabilities of Connecticut classrooms.

The budget includes an additional $100 million in economic development funds

for the cities, half of it for Bridgeport.

In the social services area, Gov Rowland proposed cutting all cash benefits

and medical assistance for 12,000 employable adults, mostly single men, who

receive state welfare - a change would save nearly $90 million over two years.

Gov Rowland's tax-cut plan builds on the $200 million in reductions put in

place over the past two years, with most of the relief aimed at middle-class

taxpayers. Taken together with the earlier cuts, the plan would mean a 25

percent reduction in the income tax bills of nearly 75 percent of all

taxpayers. Families would see up to an $820 reduction and singles a $460

reduction in the tax bills they were paying before Rowland took office.

The total savings to taxpayers would be $365 million over two years.

Rowland's budget plan also would exempt Social Security benefits from the

state income tax. The tax break would save about 110,000 senior citizens an

average of $140 per year, or a total of about $15 million.

Rowland made it clear in his budget that he does not support the type of tax

cut preferred by Democrats: one that would give people who pay high property

taxes a break on their income tax.

"True property tax reform will only occur if we help our cities and towns

reduce their spending. We can help by continuing state aid and eliminating

state mandates," said the governor.

1 Percent Increase

The governor proposed a budget of $10.16 billion for the year starting July 1,

a reduction of .4 percent, or $37.6 million, from the current budget year.

If approved, the cut would be the first year-to-year cut in state budgets

since 1960, although the state will likely spend more than it first

anticipated for the current budget year.

In its second year, Rowland's budget would rise $147.2 million, or 1.4

percent, to $10.31 billion.

The net increase would be 1 percent.

Rowland's budget depends in part on $175 million in savings over two years

from enticing state employees to retire early and by cutting agency budgets

for personnel. Combined, the reductions over two years would total about

4,000, or 9 percent of the state's current work force of 46,000.

Rowland also will seek $50 million in savings in the second year of the budget

by merging parts of some agencies and by hiring a private company to deal with

all the state's computer services. He also wants to hire companies to run 22

of the state's group homes for the mentally retarded, and close the Northeast

Correctional Institution in Storrs, buying space for 300 inmates in

out-of-state prisons.

The governor also is looking for about $130 million in savings by using HMOs

to compete for contracts to provide health care to welfare recipients, and to

contract for pharmacy services for some senior citizens and poor people. About

$55 million of that savings also would come from moving some Medicaid

recipients from nursing and group homes into managed-care plans.

Democrats said they do not believe Rowland's proposals will produce the

savings his budget needs.

(Associated Press reports were used in this story.)