Moccia: Norwalk is Ready for a Cut in State Aid

Norwalk may be able to avoid significant layoffs and cuts in services if state aid is cut, a hopeful Mayor Richard A. Moccia said Friday as the state's budget picture darkened.

"I don't think we're going to be looking at cuts, so much," Moccia said.

On Friday morning, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was scheduled to meet with the mayors of Connecticut's five largest cities as the most talked about issue in state government is expected budget cuts following the rejection of a union concessions plan.

Malloy has said that state aid to cities and towns could be cut if unions rejected the concessions plan, in which benefits would be tightened and state spending lowered in order to meet budget goals in an economy that has been producing less tax revenue and more spending demands on state coffers.

Moccia the mayor of the state's sixth largest city, was not among the group of five mayors (New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, Waterbury Mayor Mike Jarjura, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia and Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra).

But, as with other executives of cities and towns across the state, the potential aid cuts have been on Moccia's mind. He met with city Finance Director Thomas Hamilton weeks ago to discuss contingency plans.

In a brief interview Friday, Moccia didn't go into details about what might be changed. He did say the city should save $120,000 this year by doing the equivalent of remortgaging the house for lower interest rates. The savings over 10 years should be $700,000, Moccia said.

The mayor is also hoping for higher tax revenues this year than were previously projected. Tax rate increases won't happen, Moccia said. Further layoffs would be extremely difficult, he added, since "we're pretty hard pressed to cut much more in our workforce. We probably have the lowest workforce of any city this size in the country."

Back in April, when Malloy's contingency plan to Norwalk, Moccia sounded considerably more pessimistic: "Here's the choice I have—laying off employees or cutting all the services or raising taxes 8 or 9 percent."

On Friday, Moccia echoed state House Republican Leader Lawrence F. Cafero of Norwalk in sharply criticizing Malloy's budget choices: "The governor's plan was built on a platform of sand," the mayor said, calling it "very, very tenuous."

On Thursday afternoon, Malloy called Connecticut legislators back from summer break for a special session the following Thursday, June 30, to vote on a revised budget plan, now that it appears a concession deal with state unions is doomed.

“It was always my hope that the SEBAC Agreement would be ratified and we could move forward with the process of getting our state’s fiscal house in order and creating new jobs,” said Malloy in a press statement. "But that looks increasingly unlikely."

The deal, which would freeze wages and lower pensions but guarantee job security for four years for state employees, would have made up for a nearly $1.6 billion deficit in the state's two-year budget, administration officials say.

Union employees have through Friday to vote on the deal, but early results show that it's unlikely the measure will pass. 

Pushing all else aside to focus on formulating a revised budget by early next week, the administration also canceled an anticipated bonding hearing set for Friday, June 23. 

House Speaker Chris Donovan, a Meriden Democrat, also to his own U.S. Congressional campaign, which was scheduled for this Thursday afternoon, to work at the capitol. 

The administration's revised two-year budget will likely include immediate mass layoffs, and in the second year, cuts in funding for cities and towns, Malloy said at an event at the University of Hartford Thursday, the Connecticut Mirror reports.

"I am loathe to make the decisions facing us at this juncture – including layoffs, programmatic and municipal aid cuts – but I am left with no choice," Malloy said in a press statement. The Governor has said he will not raise taxes further to cover the gap. "Working with the legislature, we will have a balanced budget and one that, while making painful cuts and difficult decisions, will be balanced honestly without tricks or gimmicks.”

State Sen. Len Suzio, a Meriden Republican, said the failure to pass union concessions could be a "blessing in disguise," according to . 

“If the union concessions deal is approved, state government will be trapped without an option to trim our state employee workforce,” Suzio said, referring to the 4-year freeze on layoffs that was included in the package.

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Meriden Patch.