September 6, 2012
Unfunded State Mandates Continue
One of the biggest struggles we have as a town is to control costs. Over time, the cost to run our operations inevitable rises due to things somewhat out of our control. The price of energy rises, health insurance go up, and personnel costs increase. This is nothing different than what we all face in our personal lives with increased costs that are mainly out of our control.
Sometimes though, additional costs are deliberately placed upon municipalities by the state to further a policy initiative. Some of these initiatives are debatable in their effectiveness and some are clearly worthy goals. However, what is not in debate is the fact that the burden and expense of implementing these new laws often falls to the municipality. It seems as if Hartford either does not understand this or simply doesn’t care.
A good example is the recent law passed requiring municipalities to register new voters on election day. We can argue the wisdom of trying to register and verify new voters in a manner that prevents fraud while voting is occurring. However, all should recognize that it puts an additional burden on Colchester and other municipalities to make sure we have the staffing level to handle this new unfunded mandate from Hartford.
Another example is the requirement that primaries be held at each of our three polling locations instead of being able to consolidate the voting at Town Hall. We normally hold elections at our three polling locations in town. Obviously, there is significantly less activity during a primary and it makes sense to consolidate the voting to one location as we do with a budget referendum. Unfortunately, state law does not permit that and we must go through the expense of staffing three different polling locations. The General Assembly actually voted to change this law only to see it vetoed by Gov. Malloy.
These mandates impact the schools as well. There are a number of mandates centered around who qualifies for unemployment, family medical leave, sick time, and costly placements out of district. Every dollar spent on these mandates is a dollar that does not go to educate the students. Again, there may be good intentions behind these mandates, but they come at a price.
The regional government councils, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, and the Council of Small Towns regularly fight against proposed and existing mandates, but it’s an uphill battle. Everyone will continue this fight though as all municipalities desire to be unburdened by these mandates in order to deliver the cost effective services the citizens deserve. Hopefully, Hartford will one day ease up on these costly mandates and allow municipalities to save some money.
- Gregg Schuster
First Selectman
Previous Selectman Notes can be viewed at
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