Capitol Watch: AFSCME, Ned Lamont Rip Rell's Property Tax Cap Plan

Christopher Keating, “Capitol Watch,” Courant.com, February 14th, 2008

http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2008/02/afscme-ned-lamo.html

It won’t work.

That’s what a new study, commissioned by AFSCME, Council 4, says about Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s controversial property tax cap proposal. The study says the plan “worsens the gap between rich and poor communities because it will limit the ability of towns and cities to levy property taxes to finance local public services, including schools,’’ according to AFSCME.

The detailed study – complete with 33 charts – was written by Professor James P. Stodder, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard.

Cities and towns, Stodder said, could avoid the cap by simply voting to exceed it.

“It does not represent a constraint on the richest towns – so they don’t have any problem with an override,’’ Stodder told Capitol Watch. “Almost all of the overrides are in the richer towns.’’

But Rell’s spokesman, Christopher Cooper, said the union-commissioned study is flawed.

“Their report appears to analyze the proposal the governor made last year, not this year,’’ Cooper said.

Despite a huge amount of criticism of her plan, Rell is not giving up. “The governor is committed to property tax reform,’’ Cooper said.

Stodder’s study comes with a one-page introduction by Ned Lamont, who gained fame by defeating U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in the Democratic primary in August 2006 before losing in the general election.

“I urge the governor and the legislature to read Jim Stodder’s analysis carefully,’’ Lamont wrote in the introduction. “Our over-reliance on the property tax accelerates some negative trends in Connecticut which impact our quality of life and our ability to compete for good paying jobs. The best strategy for our future in Connecticut should focus on rebuilding our cities, which were some of the wealthiest cities in the country a century ago.’’

Lamont traveled to the Capitol complex Thursday to participate in a press conference with AFSCME leaders, Stodder, and others. “It’s a lousy solution,’’ Lamont said of the cap. “It makes a bad situation worse.’’

House Speaker James Amann ripped the plan once again Thursday.

“It’s a dumb idea,’’ Amann told Capitol Watch in an interview in his office. “It wasn’t well thought-out last year.’’

Rell was attempting to raise taxes last year, and “she tried to mask it with the property tax cap,’’ Amann said.