Malloy Budget Gives Middletown More

The State Legislature is currently working on the biennial budget. They received a budget from Governor Malloy that is not in balance, and the legislators do not share the same priorities as the governor.

Municipal leaders throughout the state are concerned that legislators may cut from the $3.2 billion in state aid to municpalities, in order to fund other priorities [CT Mirror article: CT municipalities fear they may finally take a budget hit].

Middletown may have even more to fear, since Mayor Drew's budget is based on a large increase in state aid.

Two of the largest types of state aid are payments made to substitute for property taxes on state-owned property, colleges and universities, and hospitals. Our city has a large amount of non-taxable property, owing to the presence of Connecticut Valley Hospital, the Juvenile Training Center, Middlesex Hospital, and other large and otherwise valuable properties, hence the large amount of payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) funding

In Malloy's Fiscal Year 2016 budget, Middletown would be the 4th largest municipal recipient of this kind of state aid, slated to receive $10.3 million, an increase of $3.6 million compared to last year.  Although many municipalities would see their aid cut, Middletown would receive a 54% increase over last year, by far the largest increase among the top 10 recipients (see table above).

The City's Director of Finance, Carl Erlacher, said that the large increase was a result of the property revaluation that occurred this year, "[Since] the governor's budget put the same amount as last year in for PILOT, we got a larger share at other cities expense. The last few years we lost funds to other towns who revalued their properties.