Bringing Property Tax Relief To The People CCM forms commission to reduce property tax with grassroots strategy
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ver the coming weeks and months, CCM is embarking on a comprehensive project that will offer solutions that are on the leading edge, groundbreaking, and forward thinking as well as the backbone and core of everything we do. CCM has formed a new Commision on Property Tax Reformfacilitated by experts that will present property tax relief recommendations that will be targeted directly to 2020 voters. “Mayors and first selectmen know of the challenges managing a community during these tough economic times,” said Joe DeLong, CCM Executive Director. “One of these challenges is operating in a state where you have to contend with the third highest property tax rate in the country. Looking for ways to examine solutions for Connecticut’s property taxpayers is the intention of CCM’s new Commission on Property Tax Reform.” The commission is working on a timeline of six to nine months with the goal of developing our recommendations, completing the project, and promoting the findings across the state to coincide with the General Assembly election campaigns next fall and the longer five-month General Assembly session in the first half of 2021. This decision to take the expert analysis and suggestions directly to the public during the elections is to ensure that meaningful property tax reform is a major part of the 2020 General Assembly election campaign. A well informed public will be able to hold their elected officials to account, before, during, and after the Session. “The goal is not to simply go to the General Assembly and present something to them as we have in the past, because we know how that works out,” DeLong said to the CTMirror, adding, “we believe that the General Assembly reacts to the desires of its constituency base.”
GOAL:
Reduce property taxes in CT by 25% (Almost $3 billion in savings to taxpayers.)
reform the regressive tax once and for all.
Property tax is a quagmire in Connecticut — we rely more heavily on this regressive tax than any other state. The per capita property tax burden is $2,927, almost twice the national average of $1,556. It is responsible for paying for the majority of public services, including public education and safety, roads and infrastructure, elderly and youth services, social services, recreation, wastewater treatment, and more.
Among the three groups, they have amassed awards and special recognitions, including: the best in the nation for Public Finance and Budgeting and Local Government Management, provided a comprehensive set of services to over 160 towns and over 80 projects a year, and two participants in a forum on creative public pension solutions at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, let alone countless books written, years of public service, and countless hours spent working on these very issues.
The commission is being guided by experts from Georgia State University’s Center for State and Local Finance, The Edward Collins Center for Public Management at UMASS – Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, and Pro Bono Public Pensions, who bring with them diverse backgrounds that will tackle the symptoms and causes of our property tax issue one by one with a goal to
In addition to these three consultant groups, CCM is joined by a slate of local officials and others who are better equipped to identify the issues than just about anybody else in the state. With the cooperation between our local officials and our consultant experts, we will be prepared to let every Connecticut resident know that something meaningful can be done about the property tax if we are willing.
4 | CONNECTICUT TOWN & CITY | DECEMBER 2019
