At 1 p.m., the governor will hold a news conference at Wendell
Cross Elementary School in Waterbury to discuss the critical need to invest in
Connecticut’s infrastructure in a responsible and sustainable way. Wendell Cross
Elementary School is an example of the type of school construction project that
could be crowded out if the Republicans’ Prioritize Borrowing plan were to be
enacted. Location: school library, 1255 Hamilton Avenue, Waterbury
CT adds 300 jobs in April; flips March job loss after revision
By Joe Cooper
Connecticut labor officials say the state’s jobless rate shrank to 3.8 percent last month thanks largely to a revision to its March jobs estimate and the addition of 300 new jobs in April.
The state Department of Labor (DOL) last month said the state shed 1,300 jobs in March. On Thursday it reversed course and said the state actually added 300 jobs in March. The state gained another 300 net jobs in April.
The latest DOL data is good news for the state’s job market after it recorded 2,900 job losses during the first two months of the year.
Connecticut now has almost 1.7 million seasonally adjusted jobs and an estimated 72,500 unemployed residents, down about 1,600 from March.
Job growth was again led by professional and business services with an increase of 1,600 jobs, or an increase of 0.7 percent, for a total of 218,700 jobs. Other top industry gainers included trade, transportation and utilities, which added 700 jobs, and education and health, adding another 600 jobs.
Leisure and hospitality added 400 jobs and the other services supersector added 100 positions.
Construction and mining again led job declines, shedding 2,300 jobs, or a 3.7 percent fall, for a total of 60,500 jobs. Meantime, manufacturing lost 500 jobs and financial activities experienced a decline of 100 jobs.
Gasoline tax would be cut by 5 cents per gallon under draft toll bill
Christopher Keating
The state’s gasoline
tax would be reduced five cents a gallon over five years if electronic highway
tolls are approved by the legislature, according to a summary of the pending
legislation.
The final version of
the controversial tolls bill has not been publicly released, but a summary that
was given to legislators shows a wide variety of elements that are being
crafted into the final bill.Besides the gasoline tax cut, the provisions include monthly credits for low-income individuals and families that would be added to their E-Z Pass automatically, along with the option to add money onto an E-Z Pass at convenience stores.
As part of the overall toll package, bus fares would be reduced to $1, down from the current level of $1.75, and all state-run highway welcome centers would be reopened in places like Danbury and Willington after being shut down at night during the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
The summary calls for a peak toll of 4.4 cents per mile with discounts of up to 50 percent for those who purchase a Connecticut E-Z Pass and make at least 40 trips a month under an overhead toll gantry. The rates would be frozen for three years.
Regarding privacy for drivers, the summary states, “No personally identifiable toll customer information shall be stored or retained by the Department of Transportation or a toll operator unless such information is necessary for the collection and enforcement of tolls.”
While lawmakers have argued for months about who would oversee toll operations, the bill summary calls for creating a Bipartisan Transportation Strategy Commission of 13 members "charged with review and approval'' of the construction projects and the “schedule of toll rates for tolled highways.” Six of the 13 members would be chosen by the legislature, six would be state officials and one would be picked by the governor.
Rep. Roland Lemar, a New Haven Democrat who is helping to oversee the drafting, confirmed the details of the summary, saying the commission would play a major role in the future if any toll hikes are contemplated.
"If you want to increase those rates, you’ve got to come back to that bipartisan commission,'' Lemar said. “We don’t want an administrator in a back room making that choice. We don’t want the governor making that choice.”
Since state officials have already been in contact with federal transportation officials, Lemar said he is confident that the gantry locations and toll prices will be approved by federal authorities. He expects the bill’s final version to be released “within the next week,” adding, “We’re not releasing an unfinished bill.”
As the final bill was being written behind closed doors, the battle over tolls continued Thursday at the Capitol.
A passionate Gov. Ned Lamont blasted the latest Republican transportation plan. He walked to the state Capitol press room on short notice after reading a new, five-point GOP plan that calls for allocating an additional $375 million a year for the next five years to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure. The proposal, outlined in a 16-page amendment, also calls for investigating the state’s most-damaged bridges and developing long-term strategies. Lamont described it as a study that delays making tough decisions such as voting on tolls.
“This is why people are so cynical” about politicians, Lamont said. “If you don’t want a toll, say it. If you want to borrow, say it. If you don’t want to do anything, say it. You know where I stand.
"I’m not going to let politicians hide behind yet another study. That is not the way to get this state going. So I’m going to get everybody to cast a vote. They can say ‘no.' They can say, ‘kick the can down the road.’ They can say ‘wait.' But we’re going to make them cast a vote to get this state moving again.’’
When a reporter told Lamont he was far more passionate and emotional than usual, the governor agreed.
“What’s going through my mind is these [Republican] guys were elected to come to Hartford to make a decision,” Lamont said. “What I just read is ‘We can’t decide, and we don’t want to take a tough vote and we want to wait a little longer and let’s get back in a couple of years and let’s study it.' You’re right. I do feel passionately.”
Only minutes earlier, Republicans had released the updated plan, an addition to their longer-term Prioritize Progress proposal that Lamont has repeatedly criticized as an overly expensive nonstarter. The 30-year, $65 billion Republican plan would rely on state borrowing and leveraging federal funds. They have presented it as an alternative to tolls.
The clash between Lamont and Republicans has intensified in recent weeks, leading up to his impromptu trip to the press room.
House Republican leader Themis Klarides of Derby said her 60-member caucus has remained steadfast against Lamont’s plan to erect tolls for the first time on Connecticut highways in three decades.
She criticized Lamont for promising to raise money for House Democrats if they backed tolls. Lamont issued a direct plea to the legislators during a caucus Wednesday night, saying he needed their support on a tough but important vote.
“They don’t have the votes with the proposals they have,” Klarides said. “Unfortunately, we saw the governor go into the Democratic caucus and have a conversation the likes I’ve not seen before. When you have a governor who is basically making monetary promises to caucuses and then you have a governor who has been going all around the state trying to coerce and convince people to support tolls because he doesn’t have the votes, you see the kind of desperation that we’re dealing with now.”
Asked about criticism about his statements on raising campaign cash for Democrats, Lamont responded, “I’m going to support people who share my vision, and I’m going to be fighting for them. I’m asking them to take a courageous vote.”
The bill summary says there would be no more than 50 toll gantries total on I-95, I-91, I-84 and Route 15. It does not say exactly where they would be located. House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz of Berlin has said he urged Lemar, the co-chair of the transportation committee, to be vague about details until the final version is released. The reason, he said, is that Republicans have distorted the details about tolls.
“To avoid that trap, and it is a trap, we’re being very vague,” Aresimowicz said.
With the toll money, the state would make major improvements to the elevated Hartford viaduct, the Waterbury Mixmaster on I-84, the Gold Star Memorial Bridge on I-95 in New London and other projects. Lamont has said his toll plan would raise $800 million a year, about 40 percent of which would be paid for by out-of-state drivers. The specific projects will be outlined in the bill by name.
Nate Brown, president of the 3,500-member Waterbury Building Trades Council, has been pushing at the Capitol for tolls, saying that it’s important for the entire construction industry.
“I think it’s a coin toss right now,” he said. “It’s all what comes out in the final draft. It’s going to be very close.”
Nobody likes tolls… unless
Joëlle Berger
Nobody really likes tolls…. unless they are a better option than the alternatives.
What I do not like is that my daily commute to Grand Central Terminal is now 30 minutes longer. As a consequence, the value of my home in Westport has decreased.
What I do not like is worrying about the safety of the roads and bridges while traveling on the Connecticut highways, since 57 percent of public roads are in poor condition and 338 bridges rated as structurally deficient.
What I really do not like is that these issues are becoming divisive instead of bringing all of the Connecticut residents together to find fair and common sense solutions.
Nobody denies that there is an infrastructure crisis in Connecticut. Connecticut is the only state on the eastern seaboard without tolls to fix these problems.
Bonding is not a sustainable source of revenue. Also, it lets out-of-staters off the hook. Connecticut residents should not have to pay 100 percent of the costs when out-of-state drivers represent 40 percent of the traffic.
Introducing fair, safe and flexible tolls is a much better solution for the long-term safety and health of our beautiful state. Connecticut can do better!
Joëlle Berger lives in Westport.
I have tried but I cannot find a defensible reason why Connecticut should not join the 42 states and the District of Columbia that have tolls. We need to share paying this massive price tag with the 40% of users of our roads who come from out-of-state. After all, we pay their tolls when we drive on their roads. And discounts for CT drivers can help make tolls more manageable – especially, for low income and frequent drivers. The alternative Prioritize Debt plan using 30-year bonds would saddle us, our children, and our children’s children with repaying 100% of that cost. There is no way to explain that as sensible or fair.
With 330+ structurally deficient bridges and many roads in poor repair, Connecticut has a monster Transportation Infrastructure problem. We’re playing chicken as we wait for another Mianus River Bridge event. And we’re endangering the economic viability of the state.
Now is the time for constructive solutions to solve a problem that has evolved over decades. Bond financing would just mean continuing to kick the can down the road. Gov. Lamont’s new plan would put a stop to that.
Jackie Kaiko lives in Stamford.
Fate of CT highway tolls remains uncertain amid political spin
Mark Pazniokas and Keith M. Phaneuf
With less than three weeks until the end of the 2019 legislative session, Gov. Ned Lamont’s first-year priority of returning highway tolls to Connecticut remains a work in progress, complicating efforts to corral a majority — and generating a day of political spin Thursday at the State Capitol.
Republicans called a visit by Lamont to the House Democratic caucus the previous night a “desperate” bid for votes, then they abruptly revised their own tolling alternative, itself an apparent bid for votes. Lamont quickly dropped by the Capitol pressroom to say the GOP shift was why “voters are so cynical about politics and politicians.”
Of course, the governor also has given voters ample reason for cynicism. As a candidate last year, Lamont said he favored trucks-only tolling, not his current plan to impose tolls for all motor vehicles traveling on the Merritt Parkway and three interstate highways, 84, 91 and 95.
With important variables yet to be defined, passage of a tolls bill remains uncertain.“I think up until the last moment when the bill is finalized, we won’t be able to do an actual hard vote count,” said House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin.
In a letter last week to lawmakers, Lamont said the administration would propose peak pricing of 4.4 cents a mile in the final legislation, with the discretion to raise or lower the price by 1.3 cents, allowing state transportation officials to negotiate with the FHWA within a limited range. Prices would be frozen for three years. State drivers would get discounts.
The goal is to bring about $800 million annually to the special transportation fund, from which Connecticut pays operating costs for the departments of transportation and motor vehicles, and debt service on borrowing for transportation projects. Now funded primarily by fuel taxes, it is facing the possibility of insolvency in coming years without new revenue.
While adamantly disagreeing on the need for tolls, the GOP conceded the need for new revenue, and proposed cutting borrowing for other purposes to set aside $700 million for transportation in an alternative plan called “Prioritize Progress.” Democrats say the Republican plan is not politically or financially sustainable, as demands for school construction and maintenance to state facilities eventually would undercut it.
On Thursday, Republicans said they were willing to halve their proposal to $375 million a year for the next five years, allowing time for further study.
“No one has advocated for immediate action more vehemently than Republicans, but we don’t believe tolls are the answer,” he said. “While some Democrats believe tolls may be a possible solution, perhaps they will consider this as a more layered solution to a complex problem.”
Lamont said the GOP had no credibility in agreeing for weeks about the scope of the need, then cutting their proposal by half.
“This is why people are so cynical. If you don’t want to toll, say it. If you want to borrow, say it. If you don’t want to do anything, say it. You know where I stand,” Lamont said.
Lamont, who was accompanied by Transportation Commissioner Joe Giulietti and other aides in his visit to the press room, said there is no dispute about Connecticut’s transportation needs.
“I’m here to deal with this problem right now,” Lamont said. “Joe Giulietti is right here. We know what bridges are about to collapse. We know what’s going on with Metro North. We know where that money has got to go. We know how we can accelerate I-95 and get this state moving again. We’ve laid out those plans. We laid out what those priorities are, and we’ve said how we re going to pay for it. The other team has said, ‘Let’s study it.’ ”
The governor was being hyperbolic. Connecticut has 300 bridges that have been deemed structurally deficient by a national road builders’ association, meaning they are in need of repair or replacement, but are not unsafe.
House and Senate Republican leaders vow that no member of their GOP minorities will cast a vote for tolls under any circumstance. If that holds, Lamont will need 76 of the 91 Democrats in the House and at least 18 of the 22 in the Senate. (Nineteen votes are a majority in the Senate, but an 18-18 tie could be broken by the presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz.)
Klarides said the Democrats’ struggle is obvious.
“We’ve seen toll proposals that change on a daily basis,” Klarides said. “We’ve seen differences in proposals from the governor, from the Democrats, which will tell you one thing and one thing only — that they don’t have the votes with the proposals they have.”
House Democrats said they appreciated Lamont’s visit to their caucus Wednesday night, but that hard commitments for a tolling bill are unlikely until a final draft is available.
“Nothing is a done deal until it comes to the floor,” said Rep. David Michel, a first-term Democrat from Stamford, whose downtown is bracketed by would-be toll roads — I-95 and the Merritt Parkway — that are heavily congested in the morning and evening rush hours, I-95 and the Merritt Parkway.Lamont’s visit to the caucus was a rare but not unprecedented step for a governor. He acknowledged he was asking them to cast a difficult vote and promised that he would support their re-elections and that business groups would provide political cover by endorsing tolls.“What he wants to do, he want to instill confidence in us,” said Rep. Phil Young, D-Stratford, who represents a swing district.
Aresimowicz said the governor showed honesty and vulnerability in admitting that his flip on tolls, which he attributed to a realization that trucks-only tolls were legally risky would raise insufficient funding.
“He admits basically that he put us on the spot,” Michel said.
Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, a first-year Democrat from West Hartford, said, “I think he recognizes this is a hard vote and that people are putting themselves on the line for it, and that he really worked hard to make sure that this bill reflected our concerns.”
Lamont rejects GOP no-tolls plan
PAUL HUGHES REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
HARTFORD — The debate over transportation funding revved up Thursday as Republicans dropped a new five-point plan and Gov. Ned Lamont immediately trashed the GOP initiative.
Lamont and Republicans have been clashing over his plan for electronic highway tolls to fund transportation projects and the GOP alternative called Prioritize Progess that proposes to use state bonding and federal matching funds.
Lamont stated his intention to have an up-or-down vote on tolls this session after Republicans released five-point transportation funding strategy Thursday that builds off the GOP’s Prioritize Progress plan.
“I’m going to get everybody to cast a vote. They can say no. They can say kick the can down the road. They can say wait. But I’m going to make them cast a vote to get this state moving again,” he said.
House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, and Senate Minority Leader Leonard A. Fasano, R-North Haven, continued to question if Lamont and Democratic majority leaders have the votes to pass a tolling plan.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, was still unable to guarantee House approval Thursday.
“I think up until the last moment when the bill is finalized, we won’t be able to do an actual hard vote count,” he said.
Klarides and Fasano reiterated Republican opposition to tolls and arguments that Republican are proposing a more responsible plan for funding transportation needs..
Klarides said the five-point plan that was released Thursday incorporates both Republican and Democratic recommendations.
“This plan would enable the state to immediately invest a historic amount in transportation to get projects started right away, and develop a long-term strategy to carry our state forward for the next generation,” she said.
It proposes to dedicate $1.9 billion in state bonding and federal funding for needed improvements over the next five years, including $375 million in general obligation bonds.
The Republicans would have the state Department of Transportation prepare reports identifying infrastructure needs, construction schedules, a priority list of projects, and a financing plan.
More specifically, the DOT would have to submit a three-year maintenance and repair plan and a five-year construction plan, and would also have to provide quarterly updates on each plan.
The Republicans also propose to revive the Transportation Strategy and Advisory Board to develop a long-term strategy and recommendations for stabilizing the Special Transportation Fund.
In addition, they call for revising state law to allow for public-private partnerships for completing transportation projects.
Lastly, the new GOP plan would direct the DOT to identify the five worst bridges in need of replacement, consult Federal Highway Administration regarding construction and financing, and recommend replacement plans to legislature for approval.
After the plan came out, Lamont told reporters at a news conference that Republicans have no credibility because their plan keeps changing.
“This is why people are so cynical. If you don’t want to toll, say it. If you want to borrow, say it. If you don’t want to do anything, say it. You know where I stand,” Lamont said.
Klarides and Fasano said Lamont and Democrats are the ones with no solid plan.
“We’ve seen toll proposals that change on a daily basis,” Klarides said. “We’ve seen differences in proposals from the governor, from the Democrats, which will tell you one thing and one thing only – that they don’t have the votes with the proposals they have.”
Waterbury receives state approval to expand scope of Wendell Cross project
MICHAEL GAGNE
WATERBURY — The city has received state approval to revise the Wendell Cross Elementary School construction project, Mayor Neil M. O’Leary told the Board of Education Thursday night.
The city’s original plan was to renovate the existing Wendell Cross building on Hamilton Avenue and construct a 40,000-square-foot addition. The plan was expected to cost $46.2 million.
Now the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the state’s School Construction Grant Office, has approved the city’s proposal to expand the project’s scope — demolishing most of the existing structure, and constructing more than 80,000 square feet. The new plan would create three classrooms per grade, rather than two classrooms as originally proposed.
“We did so because it was in the best interest of the community and the city and the district,” O’Leary said.
The original renovation-addition project was approved in 2016 with an expected price of $46.2 million. The state has committed $36.3 million to reimburse the city toward the project, provided it begins by this October.
The state’s approval does not revise either of the funding figures.
Kosta Diamantis, the director of the Department of Administrative Service’s Office of School Construction Grants, wrote in a letter approving the revision that “the current request to modify the original plan within the originally proposed budget would create a substantially improved and efficient building to serve the students of Wendell L. Cross school.”
Diamantis noted the district’s latest enrollment estimates show 677 students enrolling in the school by the 2023-2024 academic year over previous estimates of 582 students.
“It was noted that due to to the overcrowding at the K-8 level, numerous students have been outplaced to neighboring elementary schools over the past several years,” Diamantis wrote, noting the original report assumed that “only certain outplaced students would return to a new Wendell L. Cross school rather than the majority of the students returning to their neighboring school.”
But, Diamantis wrote, evidence submitted suggests “student rate of return” to the school is “highly likely. The assumptions used in determining enrollment of 677 are reasonable.”
The board voted unanimously to approve a lease with St. Blaise Parish for use of the St. Joseph School building as swing space while the construction project is underway.
Wendell Cross parents did not address the board during public input at Thursday night’s meeting.
But O’Leary, in speaking to the board, addressed some of their concerns about crime and the condition of the St. Joseph School building. “I get it. As a police chief in this town, I know people’s number one concerns is going to be neighborhoods and crime. But I need to tell you the statistics do not support those concerns,” O’Leary said. “The data collected that has reviewed does not show significantly more crime in the Brooklyn neighborhood at St. Joseph School than Wendell Cross School itself.”
I just want to put your minds at ease and let you know the city is extraordinarily committed… this has been an arduous project, but at the end of the day, we’re doing it right. We don’t to build a building that we’re going to outgrow,” O’Leary said.
City Health Department Sanitarian Thomas Solury said in a letter to the board that health officials in their initial walk-through of the property “found no detectable visual indoor mold growth.” Solury wrote officials did not detect any odor of mold or mildew nor did they find “visual conditions favorable for mold growth” as they inspected the area..
Meanwhile, some parishioners of St. Joseph Church are concerned about the city’s plan to use not just the former Catholic school building, but the church’s former convent and a residential building on the site.
Linas Balsys, a lifelong parishioner and son of Lithuanian parents, described the parish as a home for the Lithuanian community, whose presence has greatly diminished in the city.
“I think the biggest thing for the Lithuanian community is we feel we lost every bit of our heritage that has ever existed in a public space in this area,” Balsys said, noting he has “no qualms whatsoever” with plans to use the school building.
But the plans to use the convent, which has a former chapel that had previously been consecrated, has Balsys concerned. He expressed hope that the chapel and the convent’s stained glass windows would be preserved.