Emilie Munson
Gov. Ned Lamont has a short window to close a tolls deal with lawmakers before summer vacations push a vote into the fall as he faces increasing calls from top Democrat leaders to find a transportation funding plan that will win Republican votes, making a deal even harder to clinch.
Don’t expect a vote on tolls until mid-July or — barring that — September, House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said Monday.
Legislative leaders are not expected to meet with Lamont to negotiate transportation funding legislation until after the July 4 holiday, Ritter said. Lawmakers’ planned vacations will bar a House vote on tolls in August, he added.
Lamont told reporters in Milford on Monday he’s not sure when a special session to pass tolls-enabling legislation will occur. Meanwhile, several House Democrats privately told Hearst Connecticut Media they don’t expect to cast a tolls vote until September at the earliest.
Lamont’s latest pitch for tolls, including an income tax reduction to offset the cost of tolls on Connecticut residents, is likely to need revisions before it sees the floor of the House and Senate.
Like Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, Ritter would like to craft legislation that will get some bipartisan support, he said Monday. That will be a challenge because Republicans have loudly and universally promised to oppose tolls in Connecticut.“Our goal is to get Republicans too,” Ritter said. “I think that the business community and a lot major employers in our state have been very clear that transportation is a major issue in our state, so I don’t see how any legislative leader can say no or walk away… If you are not part of the conversation and we don’t do something very positive about transportation infrastructure in the future, the business community will be very upset and will be very harsh on those in the future.”
Looney, a New Haven Democrat, called for a “bipartisan approach” last week, adding that such a plan would probably include fewer tolls and more bonding.
“I’m looking at any compromise that works, but the numbers have to add up,” said Lamont Monday.
Ritter predicted that the working draft of tolls legislation Lamont released in late May would not win Republican votes. That plan included no more than 50 toll gantries on interstates 95, 91, 84 and the Merritt Parkway. Connecticut drivers, receiving resident and commuter discounts, would pay 4.4 cents per mile at on-peak times and 3.5 cents per mile off peak. Low-income drivers would get additional savings.
But Ritter believes some moderate Republicans could vote in favor of tolls if an income tax reduction meant an overall savings for the average Connecticut driver and taxpayer, he said.
If tolls are implemented, Lamont suggested last week dropping the income tax rate on an individual’s first $10,000 and joint filers’ first $20,000 of income from 3 to 2 percent. That change would give individuals making between $25,000 and $101,500 a savings of $90 and joint filers savings of $180.“Maybe the reductions that have been proposed so far are not substantial enough,” Ritter said. “Some may want to go a little further. We’ll have that conversation.”
The income tax cut suggested by Lamont would mean $100 million less heading into state coffers. Ritter acknowledged some House Democrats might push back against removing that money — or more — from the General Fund to use on state spending for education, health care, pensions and other government expenses.
Lamont has called tolls a “tough vote” for Democrats and even promised to help House Democratic lawmakers fundraise, if they vote yes.
Lamont acknowledged Monday that inertia around tolls may grow worse over time, even if Democrats are not worried about their 2020 re-election chances with President Donald Trump seeking another term in 2020. He directed his comment at Democratic lawmakers.
“If you’re not willing to vote for it now when you’ve just been elected - as you point out Trump is at the top of the ticket in a couple years - you’re never going to be willing to make a tough choice,” Lamont said. “Now’s the time for you to make the choice.”
Lamont said he will hold another meeting with top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate in the next few weeks. He will also discuss his tolling plan with some rank-and-file lawmakers, he said.
“We are briefing them on the fact that the special transportation fund is going to be bankrupt in a few years unless we do something serious,” said Lamont.
Major construction projects underway, set to begin at Waterbury schools
MICHAEL GAGNE
WATERBURY — Work to prepare the former St. Joseph School building on John Street to welcome Wendell Cross Elementary School students in the coming school year is well underway.
On Monday, city public works employees could be seen pushing piles of dirt in the parking lot on the property, preparing it for repaving.
Meanwhile, work will soon begin at four city school buildings — Hopeville, Kingsbury, Chase and Sprague elementary schools — all of which will be getting elevators installed.
The city is leasing St. Joseph School as swing space for when the Wendell Cross Elementary School project, expanding it to a grades pre-K-through-eight building, is fully underway. That work is expected to begin by October.
Waterbury Public Schools Chief Operating Officer William Clark on Monday said he’s confident the St. Joseph property will be ready for students and staff.
“We’re moving along there quite well, no question we’ll have that ready for swing space,” Clark said, adding a lot of the classroom work in the main building is already completed. “We just got a bid back for some paving in back for the parking lot area, and to install some drainage and a retaining wall.”
Clark said that work in the parking lot will allow for a play area at the school. “All that is moving along. We will be pushing our attention to the convent area, get that ready for the kindergarten classrooms and the library media support center,” he said.
“Our crews have been doing a great job over there,” Clark said. “We’re doing a lot of the work in house.”
The expected cost to partially demolish, renovate and expand Wendell Cross is currently $46.2 million. The state has committed $36.3 million to reimburse the city toward the project, provided it begins by this October.
The elevator installation projects are expected to cost around $3.2 million, with the city expected to receive a nearly 79% reimbursement toward the overall cost.
Work will begin on the elevator projects once a contract with J.A. Rosa Construction, LLC, the firm selected to to the work, is signed, Clark said.
According to J.A. Rosa’s website, the company has offices both in Wolcott and New Milford.
All but one of the elevators — Sprague — will be installed as an external addition.
Kingsbury’s project is expected to be the most costly of the four, as the projected $873,000 project covers not only the cost of installing the elevator to the building’s rear, but also the cost of installing a handicapped-accessible ramp and a curb cut, providing improved access from the roadway.
Officials are looking to add elevators to two more buildings: Bunker Hill and Washington elementary schools. An application with the State Department of Administrative Services, which administers school construction grant, is still pending approval. Officials expect those projects may be underway by the 2020-2021 school year.
Board of Education Vice President Karen E. Harvey is optimistic about the improved accessibility the projects will bring to each building, in particular Hopeville, where she noted the board had stopped convening meetings due to accessibility issues.
“I am ecstatic that we’re going forward with these projects,” Harvey said, adding she hopes the district will address accessibility issues in other school buildings.
Accessibility isn’t be the only challenge officials are seeking to address.
Clark said there are other projects, including replacing the roof at Rotella Interdistrict Magnet School, as being on the district’s list of capital improvement projects. There are some projects, including security and technology upgrades in several school buildings, that Clark expects to also move on this summer.
Lamont widening outreach on tolls to rank-and-file lawmakers
PAUL HUGHES
MILFORD — Gov. Ned Lamont is planning on reaching out to rank-and-file state legislators to make a case for highway tolls while continuing his dialogue with General Assembly leaders.
Lamont was no closer Monday to setting a date for a special session for a vote on a tolling bill, and he also had no firm date for a follow-up meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders after last Wednesday’s initial gathering.
The challenge for Lamont and toll supporters remains assembling House and Senate majorities to authorize the development of an electronic highway tolling system.
Passage will require 76 votes in the House, and another 19 votes in the Senate, or 18 votes, plus the tie-breaking vote of Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. Also, Republicans have been steadfastly opposed to tolls, so it will likely require all-Democratic majorities.
Lamont told reporters Monday that the governor’s office is now widening its outreach effort to rank-and-file representatives and senators
“We are talking individual legislators. We are briefing them on the fact that the Special Transportation Fund is going to be bankrupt in a couple of years unless we do something serious. We’re going to be laying out the options for them,” he said.
Lamont and top aides laid out various funding scenarios for Democratic and Republican leaders last week that all showed the transportation fund heading toward financial crisis in the near future.
The legislature’s budget office has estimated the transportation fund will operate in the black through the 2024 fiscal year. The unsigned two-year, $43.4 billion budget bill anticipates slight balances of $13.1 million in the 2020 fiscal year and $15 million in the 2021 fiscal year. The Office of Fiscal Analysis also projected balances of $110.2 million in 2022, $135 million in 2023, and $83.4 million in 2024.
Sen. Kevin D. Witkos, R-Canton, said he remains doubtful Lamont and Democratic leaders can round up the votes to authorize highway tolls. He joined Lamont at a ceremonial bill signing Monday at Tribus Beer Co. in Milford.
Republican opposition is unlikely to lessen, and Democratic leaders have proven unable to get enough Democratic votes to pass tolls up to this point, said Witkos, the second-ranking Republican leader of the Senate.
He predicted tolls will be a dead issue if Lamont fails to win legislative authorization before the end of 2019 because 2020 is an election year.
“I want them to vote for it because it is the right thing to do. It gets this state growing again, and nobody has a very credible alternative,” Lamont said. “If you’re not willing to vote for it now when you have just been elected, you’re never going to be willing make the tough choice. Now is the time to be making the choice.”
Witkos said he believes so many legislators remain reluctant to back tolls because they continue to question if the transportation fund’s finances will be as dire as now being portrayed.
He said there is also hesitancy because the legislature would not be approving a final plan. Instead, legislators would be authorizing the state Department of Transportation to negotiate a tolling agreement with the Federal Highway Administration.
Witkos said he questions how legislators can commit themselves without having all the details laid out, or a guarantee of a final vote on a federally-approved plan.