Borrowing for transportation on Lamont chopping block
An ongoing surge in state borrowing to rebuild Connecticut’s
aging transportation infrastructure must be rolled back, Gov. Ned Lamont’s
administration projects, because of stagnant fuel and sales tax revenues.
But business leaders and a key legislator insist Connecticut
has other options to maintain expanded financing for highway, bridge and rail
upgrades, including scaling back one of the governor’s favorite programs: an
aggressive effort to pay down pension debt.
And while Lamont downplayed the revenue challenges last
week, saying the impact wouldn’t be felt for several more years, his budget
staff projected borrowing levels to be reduced starting in the next fiscal
year, which begins July 1.
Just 12 months after the Lamont administration reported that Connecticut
was ready to increase a key element of its transportation construction budget
by 40%, from $1 billion to $1.4 billion, by 2028, a new forecast held that
three-quarters of that planned growth is unaffordable under the current system.
That $400 million in new borrowing anticipated for the
2026-27 and 2027-28 fiscal years should be stalled, according to
recommendations in the Fiscal Accountability Report issued Nov. 20 by the
Office of Policy and Management, Lamont’s chief budget and planning agency.
Reversing plans to invest hundreds of millions in
infrastructure work will have a chilling effect on industry hiring plans, said
Donald Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry
Association.
“The minute they see any kind of uncertainty, or the minute
they get any clue things are slowing down, they pull back,” Shubert told the
Connecticut Mirror. “We pull back and that slows the economic activity or the
economic benefits — immediately.”
The Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s vice
president for public policy, Chris Davis, said that “any business that’s on the
fence” about hiring or otherwise expanding, “they need that [state funding]
stability to make those types of investments.”
Twelve months ago, in the 2024-25 fiscal year, while
Connecticut was borrowing $1 billion for its transportation rebuild, Lamont’s
budget staff said that should grow to $1.3 billion in 2025-26, $1.4 billion in
2026-27, and then remain at that level through at least 2029 – a
prediction that
excited industry and construction trade leaders.
Now the administration wants to stick with $1.3 billion in
borrowing for 2025-26, but drop to $1.2 billion in 2026-27, $1.1 billion in
2027-28, and remain there through 2030. And given inflation in the construction
industry, $1.1 billion in the late 2020s would reflect little increase, if any,
beyond the $1 billion Connecticut borrowed last fiscal year.
Borrowing through bond sales, coupled with matching federal
grants, are the two ways Connecticut pays for the overwhelming bulk of its
transportation construction projects.
Slowing revenue growth is a solvable problem
So why does Lamont now expect to forego most of that funding
growth he envisioned just one year ago?
The administration points to the $2.3 billion Special
Transportation Fund, which represents 8% of the overall state budget, and covers the principal and interest
payments on infrastructure projects, as well as operating expenses for the
Transportation and Motor Vehicles departments.
Twelve months ago, Lamont’s budget office expected annual
tax revenues supporting the fund to grow almost 4.5%, or $84 million, by 2028.
Now they say those sources — two fuel levies, a portion of sales tax receipts,
and a highway mileage fee on most large trucks — will effectively remain flat,
growing by less than $6 million over the next three years.
The administration projects this sluggish revenue growth,
coupled with rising costs, will push the STF into insolvency by 2029. But this
is common outcome when projecting a state program’s finances out four or five
years into the future, at which point inflation normally outpaces revenue
growth.
Still, learning $84 million in expected extra tax receipts
by 2028 largely won’t happen is problematic.
Tens of millions of extra dollars for annual debt service
payments would allow for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional yearly
borrowing for construction work. That’s because the state pays off various
projects across 15 or 20 years.
But compensating for losing roughly $80 million in expected
revenue growth also is far from unsolvable.
And some of the first solutions that might come to mind are
untenable or unnecessary.
Lamont would not need the electronic highway tolls he sought
in 2019 and 2020, nor the $600 million they would generate annually, far more
than needed to fill an $80 million gap.
And given that both the governor’s office and all
legislators are up for reelection next November, any hike in fuel or sales
taxes — which would raise far less than tolls but still enough to cover the gap
— also is likely off the table.
But there are still more options.
Will Lamont ease budget controls to grow construction work?
The overall state budget’s General Fund, which covers about
90% of all operating expenses, has been sharing some of its resources with the
transportation fund since the late 1990s. The last major change occurred in 2015 when legislators and then-Gov. Dannel P.
Malloy assigned about 1/13th of annual sales tax receipts, which
currently exceed $5.2 billion — to the STF.
And the General Fund has generated unprecedented surpluses,
averaging more than $1.8 billion or 8% to 9% of the fund, since 2017, thanks to
aggressive budget caps installed at that time that force big savings.
Most of those unspent dollars, about $10 billion in total
since 2020, have been used to reduce the massive pension debt Connecticut
amassed across seven decades prior to 2011. And that’s in addition to the more than $3 billion in mandatory pension
contributions Connecticut makes annually.
Lamont, a fiscal moderate, has been reluctant to scale back
that savings effort, though, given Connecticut still owes more than $33 billion in this area. His critics, including
many of his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly, say this effort is too
aggressive and is draining funds from education, health care, municipal aid and
other core programs.
They also note the governor has proposed saving less,
himself, on a few occasions.
He signed big state tax cuts, which take hundreds of
millions annually away from surpluses, in 2022 and 2023, just before and after
he successfully ran for a second four-year term. He also proposed and won
legislative approval last year for a new endowment to bolster affordable child
care. That last initiative took $300 million from last year’s General Fund
surplus and is expected to collect tens or hundreds of millions from future
surpluses indefinitely.
Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, co-chairwoman of the
legislature’s Transportation Committee, said Connecticut should not abandon
what amounts to a huge planned investment in new construction jobs and in the
state’s economy.
“If we really do something like that, we’re not looking at
the big picture,” she said, adding that by rebuilding the state’s aging
highways, bridges and rail lines, “we create a vibrant economic picture for our
state.”
Cohen also praised Connecticut’s savings habits in recent
years and said the state should continue to whittle down its pension debt.
But “I also recognize times change,” she added, “and
sometimes minor adjustments are needed.”
Shubert’s association has asserted for years that
Connecticut should be borrowing more than $1.5 billion annually to rebuild a
transportation network that is one of the nation’s oldest.
According to the American Road &
Transportation Builders Association, Connecticut ranks 35th in the
nation, 1st being the worst, in terms of the share of its highway bridges
considered “structurally deficient.” But when it comes to the percentage of
bridge area that falls into this category, Connecticut ranks in the worst 15
states, according to the association.
Being “structurally deficient” doesn’t mean the bridge is
functionally obsolete but at least one key component, such as a deck or
culverts, is rated in “poor” or worse condition. And though not necessarily
unsafe, the bridge requires significant repair or monitoring.
Lamont’s budget spokesman, Chris Collibee, declined to say
what changes the governor might recommend when he proposes his next budget to
the General Assembly on Feb. 4 but added “We expect considerable discussion
around this [transportation] question in the coming months.”
Lamont has pressed lawmakers in recent years to consider
cutbacks to public transit programs, including higher rail and bus fares to
reduce the need for state subsidies. This also could help offset sluggish
revenue growth and make more borrowing for transportation construction
possible.
But Cohen was skeptical the Democratic-controlled General
Assembly would look to tighten belts further in this area.
“I certainly hope not,” she said. “I want to see more people
on public transportation and that means putting investments there.”
Governor downplays transportation funding challenges
The governor downplayed the transportation funding
challenges when discussing them with reporters last week.
Federal transportation funding has been on the rise since
2021, when President Joe Biden and Congress enacted an aggressive $1.2 trillion
transportation infrastructure program, Lamont said, adding that “2030 is a long
way away. A lot can change.”
But President Donald Trump already rolled back some of that
infrastructure funding in July when he signed an omnibus federal spending and
tax measure.
Trump also has told states he intends to link future federal
transportation funding, “to the maximum extent permitted by law,” to
local compliance with federal policies on vaccines and immigration enforcement
— issues on which many Connecticut officials and the president disagree.
State Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett
Eucalitto said the transportation fund revenues and changes at the federal
level do present challenges to Connecticut’s construction program.
But the department also has adjusted its capital program to
ease demand for more state investments “without compromising the long-term
health of our transportation system. [The department] will also continue
seeking competitive federal grant opportunities.”
The DOT has more than 650 active infrastructure projects,
Eucalitto said, adding “We will continue to invest strategically in aging
infrastructure … directing funds where they deliver the greatest benefit
to Connecticut residents, communities and businesses.”
Keith R. Brothers, president of the Connecticut Building
Trades Council, said that since Lamont took office in 2019, a robust 90% of his
organization’s members in transportation construction-related trades have been
employed.
“I have all the confidence in the world,” Brothers
added, “that Gov. Lamont is going to keep us working.”
In the Bridgeport schools’ building boom, here's what’s done and what’s coming next
BRIDGEPORT — From replacing roofs to creating a new
special education center, more building
improvements are planned in the city’s school district, officials from
the Bridgeport Public
Schools say.
These renovation and new building projects are taking place after the district launched its first-ever Facilities Master Plan in March, which officials say is helping them make strategic decisions.
“The progress we’ve made this year shows what is possible
when our entire community stands together,” Interim
Superintendent Royce Avery said in a statement.
Bridgeport Public Schools is currently under state
intervention after city school officials faced an over $30 million
budget deficit during last year’s budget creation process. This froze spending
and eliminated 20 teaching positions, all librarians and several
administrators. But the district confirmed it will not pause its upcoming
facilities projects due to the state intervention.
“We are building better schools, expanding opportunities and
doing what is right for our students and families,” Avery said. “This is the
power of working as one.”
One of the larger projects is the new special education
center, which is eligible to receive over $70 million from the state of
Connecticut for construction costs, according
to the Office of Legislative Research Public Act Summary. It will replace
the Bridgeport Learning Center, which has served some of the district’s special
education students.
While the timeline of the new center has not been released,
the Bridgeport
Public Schools' 2025 Building Operations report says it will serve up
to 260 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Officials previously said
it will be located on the site of the current Skane School.
The center will include specialized classrooms, therapy and sensory spaces, and adaptive technology, according to the report.
Since the Skane School’s site will soon be the home of the
new Special Education Center, what does that mean for the future of the early
childhood school?
Officials say the plan is to merge
the Skane School into John Winthrop Elementary School, which
serves kindergarten through eighth grade. As a result, the Skane School
would have its own wing in the building, along with its own entrance,
parking lot and playscapes, officials said. John Winthrop and Skane students
would share common areas such as the lunchroom and media center.
While construction is slated to begin at the end of this
school year, it will take 18 to 24 months to complete, so John Winthrop
students will be relocated to the South End, likely at the Bridgeport Military
Academy, officials said. In total, the project is expected to cost $75 million.
District officials say the state is contributing $53 million.
Another merger is planned to take place at the old Harding High School building on Central Avenue. This “East End School” project will be made up of students who would have attended Beardsley, Edison and Hall schools. The 10,000-square-foot facility will be fore 750 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Officials have also not released a timeline for this project.
It will also include Americans with Disabilities
Act-accessible playgrounds, outdoor learning spaces and accessible drop-off and
parking areas, according to the report.
What work has recently been done?
Bridgeport Public Schools began the school year with a
fresh, state-of-the-art
Bassick High School and a new Central Enrollment Center.
The new Bassick building, located on the University of Bridgeport campus, is four stories tall and includes a weight room, kitchen, gymnasium, classrooms for electives such as automotive and aeronautics and more. The new building cost $129 million and construction began in 2023.
The Central Enrollment Center is located at Connecticut
State Community College Housatonic campus’s Beacon Hall. It acts as a one-stop
shop where a family can register their students, verify their residency and
more.
The Rotary Club of Bridgeport and the Walter Luckett
Foundation have supported this project.
Other recent facility work includes upgrading the JFK
Campus' heating systems and pool and adding a new playground; modernizing the
Read School, Dunbar School and the JFK Campus' administrative building by
adding elevators; paving at Beardsley School; and upgrading Curiale School by
replacing the roof and resurfacing the gym floor.
“The progress across our schools is the result of steady
leadership and strong teamwork,” said Jorge Garcie, chief operating officer, in
a statement. “Dr. Royce Avery set the direction, and together we delivered
improvements that move Bridgeport forward.”
I-95 overhaul? How one failing bridge could lead to much bigger changes in this CT city
A plan to replace a failing bridge on a stretch of highway
in Stamford that
may include some of the most congested miles in the United States will likely
ripple out into many projects, all intended to relieve that traffic
congestion.
It has been more than 60
years since Interstate
95 opened in the area, which has been increasing in population and
traffic ever since. Sections of the road see more than 160,000 vehicles every
day, according to the state
Department of Transportation.
Now, the state is beginning
a comprehensive study, the first stage of which promises to be not one
major project but many projects, large and small, to rethink one of the
region’s busiest stretch of highway.
The condition of the I-95
bridge over the Metro-North tracks at Myrtle Street, called “bridge 32,”
between Exits 7 and 8, is an example of the wear and tear those decades of
commuters have wrought. The bridge was recently “rehabbed,” a $26.7 million
project that extended its life, but it’s not enough.
“That bought us another, maybe, 10 to 15 years. But the
bridge does have to be replaced,” said Neil Patel, a principal engineer with
the DOT’s major highways unit. “The curvature of where that bridge is, the
complexities of the bridge at the Metro-North railroad line, it's not a simple
structure. Replacement of that bridge is going to be a pretty large and complex
undertaking.”
At the same time, traffic in the area is notorious
for its backups. Washington state-based location and traffic
data analyst Inrix recently released an annual study showing that
Stamford is the 63rd most congested city in the world, the 17th most congested
in the U.S. and the single most congested in Connecticut.
According to the report, Stamford drivers lost an average of
53 hours each in 2025 sitting in traffic, at an economic cost of $976 per
driver — and it’s only getting worse. The report shows a 13% increase in
traffic congestion in Stamford compared to 2024 and a 33% increase from
2023.
Jonathan Dean, a project manager who works with Patel in the
major highways unit, said part of the problem is how the roadway was designed.
"Traffic volumes have increased since the ’50s and
’60s,” he said. “We've got so many conflict points, we call them, where
vehicles are merging onto and off of the highway. Folks are weaving in and out,
trying to jockey for position, trying to get onto the highway or off.”
The Stamford train station, an express stop on Metro-North’s New
Haven Line, is directly adjacent to the highway, with four exits, both
southbound and northbound, converging within a few miles of road. There are
major employers blocks away, bringing thousands of employees every
workday.
The first step is called a Planning and Environmental
Linkages study, a federally structured process that is necessary for the National
Environmental Policy Act review process. It is required for major
roadway construction projects.
As part of that study, the DOT is holding two public
hearings this week, one in-person and one virtual, to hear from local residents
and others on both problems and potential solutions.
“We're not just focusing on, how do cars get in and out of
Stamford,” Dean said. “It's a more holistic approach to look at what we're
calling these adjacent roadways.”
A few ideas are already under consideration. One involves
creating an express lane, perhaps a separate elevated road, for drivers who
don’t need to get on or off the highway. Dean called it an "auxiliary
lane” that could “help the traffic flow without being an expansion of the
highway.” There is also a concept that would include widening the highway.
Another idea is to merge two ramps, Exits 7 and 8, to weave
traffic “between those two ramps, and then give that one entry point onto the
highway, rather than the two streams entering sequentially,” Dean said.
Farther north, at Exit 9, there’s a long circular ramp that
leads to a multiroad intersection, which has been the site of several
pedestrian fatalities and is often snarled with traffic.
“We've got other alternatives that look at ‘collector
distributor’ roads, which are parallel roadways, usually slightly slower speed
than the main line, but paralleling the highway,” Dean said. “Those would be
the points where traffic merges on to the collector distributor so you'd have
essentially one point farther upstream, up by the service plaza, going south,
where you get off the collector distributor, and that takes you to Exit 8.”
And, whatever happens, that bridge at Myrtle Avenue will be
at the center of it, in fact guiding the project timeline, to some extent. The
rehab project extended the bridge’s life by 15 years, no more.
“Of course, every alternative takes into account that bridge
over Metro-North, bridge 32,” Dean said. “The goal is to have a project in
place in that time frame. There could be a phased approach, where there could
be some pieces, you know, there could be pieces that are done sooner.”
Hartford puts six school renovation projects on hold amid long-term planning over district's future
HARTFORD — Six school renovation projects are on hold
as Mayor Arunan
Arulampalam works with state and local officials on the future of
the Hartford
school district.
“We had made a decision to pause our school construction
while we are coming up with a plan,” Arulampalam told CT Insider. “We’ve got
six projects that are approved that we haven’t begun yet.”
The projects on hold in Hartford involve
Moylan Elementary, Parkville Community, McDonough Middle, SAND, Maria C.
Colón Sánchez Elementary and Batchelder schools.
The school projects are still in the design phase,
Arulampalam said, but they chose to pause work until a long-term plan is in
place to avoid potential repayments to the the state if the buildings are not
used in the plan.
“If we were to start construction, we’d have to be 100% sure
that the six schools are going to be used down the road,” he said.
Board of Education President Shontá Browdy did not
respond to requests for comment.
The pause comes as the Hartford Public Schools continue
to face
declining enrollment, staffing shortages and financial strains. A new
partnership with the state aims to confront these issues, make difficult
decisions and start a course toward stability and improved student
outcomes.
The district must consider how many schools it now needs and
whether some should be consolidated, Arulampalam said.
The city and state are working on a five-year strategic
plan, building on work already done by the State Department of Education and
recommendations from the district’s Blue Ribbon Commission, which was formed
last year to address long-term challenges, according to Arulampalam.
The state began working closely with the district in May
2024 after proposed budget cuts raised concerns about staffing reductions. A
month later, the State Board of Education authorized the commissioner to take
necessary action to ensure the district’s fiscal stability.
The education department became involved in several areas,
including improving the district’s financial systems to prevent loss of federal
or state funds; assessing placements and support for students with
disabilities; and reviewing the district’s magnet schools. An accountability
team will oversee the implementation of state recommendations and provide
technical assistance as the strategic plan is developed.
During a Nov. 17 Hartford School Building Committee meeting,
board members questioned when construction would resume, but officials didn't
have an answer yet.
Olusegun Ajayi, the city’s chief operating officer, pointed
to the mayor’s recent press conference on the new partnership with the state
and the district, stating that enrollment trends and choices about building use
will dictate when and which construction projects move forward.
“That directly affects when we move forward with
construction and certainly depends on what this plan looks like and the results
of that,” he said.
Federal judge throws out Trump order blocking development of wind energy
Matthew Daly
and Jennifer McDermott
Washington — A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law.
Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the
District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s Jan. 20 executive
order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.
Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys
general from 17 states, including Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., led by New
York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump’s
Day One order that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.
Trump has been hostile
to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes
fossil fuels to produce electricity.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell hailed
the ruling as a victory for green jobs and renewable energy.
“Massachusetts has invested hundreds of millions of dollars
into offshore wind, and today, we successfully protected those important
investments from the Trump administration’s unlawful order,” Campbell said in a
statement.
James said she was grateful the court stepped in “to block
the administration’s reckless and unlawful crusade against clean energy.”
“As New Yorkers face rising energy costs, we need more
energy sources, not fewer," James said. “Wind energy is good for our
environment, our economy, and our communities."
The coalition that opposed Trump's order argued that Trump
doesn’t have the authority to halt project permitting, and that doing so
jeopardizes the states’ economies, energy mix, public health and climate goals.
The coalition includes Arizona, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington
state and Washington, D.C. They say they’ve invested hundreds of millions of
dollars collectively to develop wind energy and even more on upgrading
transmission lines to bring wind energy to the electrical grid.
The government argued that the states’ claims amount to
nothing more than a policy disagreement over preferences for wind versus fossil
fuel energy development that is outside the federal court’s jurisdiction.
Justice Department lawyer Michael Robertson said in court that the wind order
paused permitting, but didn’t halt it, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
reviews the environmental impact of wind projects.
The executive order said there were “alleged legal
deficiencies underlying the federal government’s leasing and permitting” of
wind projects under the Biden administration.
A previous judge in the case allowed it to proceed against
Burgum, but dismissed an action against Trump and other Cabinet secretaries.
Judge William Young allowed the states to proceed with claims that blocking
permits for wind energy projects violates the Administrative Procedure Act,
which outlines a detailed process for enacting regulations, but not the
Constitution.
Wind is the United States' largest source of renewable
energy, providing about 10% of the electricity generated in the nation,
according to the American Clean Power Association.
The Interior Department and the White House didn’t
immediately respond to requests for comment, but the White House previously
accused the Democratic attorneys general of using lawfare to stop the
president’s energy agenda.
Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for
Clean Energy New York, said wind energy is a key component of powering the
nation's electric grid.
Wind “is currently one of the most cost-effective ways to
generate power and is being used successfully not only in the United States,
but across the world,'' she said. “With this ruling behind us, projects can now
be judged on their merits. We thank the attorneys general who helped us get
this case over the finish line.”
Kit Kennedy of the Natural Resources Defense Council called
the decision a win for consumers, union workers, U.S. businesses, clean air and
the climate.
“From the beginning of its time in office, the Trump
administration put a halt to the wind energy projects that are needed to keep
utility bills in check and the grid reliable,'' Kennedy said.
The wind order “has been a devastating blow to workers,
electricity customers, and the reliability of the power grid,'' she said,
adding that the Trump administration "should use this (ruling) as a
wake-up call, stop its illegal actions and get out of the way of the expansion
of renewable energy.''