Sunday, September 24, 2006
Council Committee Meetings
Thursday, September 21, 2006
New Information on Reval Phase In
The Town and I are working to get the additional information requested so that the residents and the Council have all the available information about these processes.
I will try to keep you updated here as new information comes in.
Best,
Curt
Thank you for your letter and the new information it provides. I really applaud you and the Hamden Homeowners for Tax Relief's efforts to help
As you know, I have been a supporter of the concept of the Phase-In and the 2-Tier tax system since day one. I was even forced to vote against the Town budget and the Tax Rate because of the inability to offer some level of relief.
At our last Council meeting, I voted against the matter of Phase-In in response to our Tax Department and Finance Department's professional recommendation that there could be serious ramifications to this year's budget - perhaps putting us in deficit. .
In addition to PILOT totals, our tax collection rate was also of very serious concern to me and the slightest of problems could explode into a million dollar deficit of worse.
As you can understand, knowingly putting the Town's budget in risk of deficit would be a dereliction of our Council's sworn duties and was the reason that most voted, with frustration, against the Phase-In.
On initial review, I do not necessarily agree with the overall "5-Year" savings number, because I think it is much more complicated to evaluate the future effects of budgets that we have no specifics for (i.e. undetermined total budget expenditures, undetermined grant revenue levels, undetermined new tax incentive laws, etc.).
That being said, the new "retro-activity" aspect of the law is intriguing. I believe that we need to give additional analysis to the potential effects of the law's changes and the effect that the changes would have on our PILOT grants and our Tax Department Collection Rate.
To this end, I have sent a memo to Chief Assessor Jim Clynes with a request for a list of all PILOT producing property, their value and what the Town receives in cash from the State for each. I also asked for him to comment on your new information.
I have also sent a memo addressed to the Finance Director asking for his comments on the new information. In addition, I am asking that the Finance Director request a written formal opinion from the State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management regarding the PILOT issue and any other related Phase-In information they can provide.
Finally, and possibly most importantly, I have sent a memo to the Administration asking if the "retro-activity" aspect of this law would allow for the Town to implement some type of Phase-In when the Town computer system upgrade is complete. This would, among other things, answer the very important tax collection rate issue. I will also ask for the Administration to respond to the new information.
If the Town can bring additional funds in to our budget from the State from increased PILOT grant funds, this would be a tremendous development. Any non-tax revenue that we bring in means tax relief for all residents - every year.
The "retro-activity" issue has opened some new questions that deserve answers. I pledge to research the information, including the questions that I pose in this letter and additional questions that are sure to develop over the coming weeks fully and report back to the Hamden Homeowners for Tax Relief on my discoveries.
Depending on the answers received, I will give serious consideration to adding the new Phase-In regulations to the Finance Committee for questions and answers, additional debate and perhaps another vote. As you are probably aware, bringing a matter back to a Committee that has already been defeated by the full Legislative Council would not be allowed with our Standing Rules (I am going to double check this aspect).
However, if new information provides for a potential vote on a new proposal, it is my belief that I could add the item to an agenda.
My decision will be based solely on firm information - how much money will be increase/decrease in grant funds, what are the new ramifications to Tax Collection, does the Town's new computer finance system give us capabilities thought impossible under the 20-year old system we were working with and other questions that come along with the additional research.
My desire to help our residents, especially our seniors and lower income families, is very strong. If we can responsibly implement some type of relief, I will support the effort. I will share information that I receive with you and the HHTR over the coming weeks.
Again, I thank you for your efforts and for providing the new information to me. I will share you letter with the members of my Committee this week
Best Regards,
Councilman Curt Leng
Finance Committee Chairman
