While not up for election this year as this year is a local election, now is as good a time as any to talk about the good work continuing to be done by Newtown’s congressional delegation, Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) and Representative Martin Foncello (R-107). The two proposed, along with their Republican colleagues, the largest expansion of Connecticut’s property tax credit in state history, increasing the maximum credit to $1,000 and growing eligibility for additional relief to more than 800,000 Connecticut households.

In a time when every Connecticut household is feeling the squeeze from Eversource bills, the continually rising cost of groceries, increasing rents and home prices, and while we’re at it, just about everything is more expensive, any proposed measure to take a bit of the financial squeeze off is a welcome one.

As many Newtown candidates during the November 4 election noted in their candidate profiles (see pages 11 through 13), affordability is the most important issue facing Newtown today. While local officials have done much to keep taxes down, last year saw a roughly six percent increase in overall property taxes, and being able to claim a larger portion of that on the state tax bill would certainly be a help.

The Newtown legislators stood with leadership, as well as municipal officials whose constituents are already facing financial pressure from double-digit property tax hikes driven by the state’s mandatory, periodic revaluation process. Such a process is to be undertaken in Newtown in 2026, with the impact yet to be seen, although the cost to Newtown of the 2024 Democrat-led change in vehicle valuation was about $600,000 in lost state revenue for 2025, due to a reduction to our state personal-property municipal tax equalization grant.

The goal of today’s House Republican proposal is to provide real middle-class tax relief by redirecting a Democrat proposal to raid $500 million in state surplus dollars, creating an “off-budget” account to further increase state spending, ultimately skipping a budgeted retiree pension-debt payment to subsidize a “possible loss of federal funding” that won’t be known until next year. The special session is planned for November 12, strategically scheduled by Democrat leadership to fall after the upcoming municipal elections.

“Here in Newtown, families are feeling the squeeze from higher costs, and recent personal-property revaluations have hit home already, with school and municipal valuation of real property coming in 2026 only added to that pressure,” said Rep Mitch Bolinsky. “This plan delivers meaningful relief to middle-class taxpayers who need it most, especially our seniors and working families trying to keep up with rising expenses. Instead of stockpiling surplus money in another government slush fund, we’re choosing to give it back to the people who earned it.”

“We should provide relief for taxpayers as Connecticut runs budget surpluses. Excess money should be put toward the largest property tax credit expansion in state history. This would provide a true solution to the affordability problem plaguing our state,” said Rep Foncello.

Under the Republican plan, every qualifying taxpayer would see an increase in their credit. The proposal raises the maximum credit from $300 to $1,000 and sets a minimum credit of $400 for eligible filers. It also increases income eligibility thresholds by about $20,000 for single filers and $30,000 for joint filers. The plan particularly benefits joint filers by raising the eligibility threshold from $130,500 to $200,000. Under current law, thousands of these filers receive only the minimum $30 credit — or nothing at all. Overall, more than 800,000 filers would see more relief.

The Republican tax relief plan would use $501 million from the $1.9 billion in the state’s volatile revenue, targeted by Democrats for yet another off-budget fund.

While it remains to be seen if this plan will garner larger support across Connecticut’s legislature, it is good to see Bolinsky and Foncello working for ways to help out their constituents.