A (Car) Taxing Issue For East Lyme, Old Lyme, And Lyme

East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica, Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, and Lyme First Selectman Ralph Eno are all in agreement: If Gov. Dannel Malloy's proposal to eliminate car taxes passes as proposed, all three towns will lose revenue that they'll have to make up by raising the mill rate, essentially passing the buck to property owners.

Nobody likes the car tax, Formica said, but "eliminating a tax has to be accompanied by comprehensive tax reform." 

Formica is meeting with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) today to get an update. CCM members, meanwhile, are pretty much marching in lock-step on this issue. 

Connecticut mayors from cities across the state held a news conference organized by CCM yesterday at the Capitol building to point out how the cutbacks in the proposed budget would impact their property tax rates and their abilities to avoid municipal layoffs and provide adequate levels of essential municipal services.   

Formica said that the senators and representatives he's spoken to about the issue say it is unlikely that the governor's budget will pass as proposed. Democratic House Speaker Brendan Sharkey said much the same yesterday, noting that although the tax is one of the most regressive, there's little support for the governor's proposal to eliminate it.   

Still, the governor is sticking to his guns on this one. Mark Ojakian, chief of staff to Governor Dannel P. Malloy, released the following statement yesterday concerning state funding for municipalities:

“As town leaders know, every budget is about setting priorities. The Governor’s priority is to continue the effort to improve public schools and create jobs, and to do it without raising taxes. In fact, he is trying to ease the burden on middle class families by providing some much-needed tax relief. 

“We understand that change is hard, but change is also necessary. Local leaders know that.”

Time will tell. But time, as Formica noted, is not on any town's side. Town budget referendums will be well past before the state makes up its mind. Which means that voters may be asked to approve budgets only to find out that towns may not have the revenues they usually do to support them.