In his state of the city speech last night, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin painted a glum picture of the Capital City’s finances and said he’ll be calling on the larger tax-exempt institutions to increase their support.
The first-term mayor said the city is in a state of fiscal emergency because Hartford has a history of not making tough choices.
“We must have a conversation with our largest property owners. These companies pay large tax bills already — and their philanthropic giving supports countless organizations serving Hartford residents. But we must nonetheless ask them to do more,” the mayor said.
Bronin pointed to a sharp jump in pension contributions as a major factor in the city’s woes. In 2010 the annual payment was $10 million. Currently it is $40 million in 2016.
He’s proposing a solution that could have further negative effects on the city’s bond ratings. “We must consider decreasing our pension contributions. Not because our pensions are fully-funded, but because a city in our financial position doesn’t have the luxury of fully-funding pensions in the near-term,” Bronin proposed.
Just yesterday, two major bond rating agencies announced they reduced two of Hartford’s major bond ratings over concerns about the Capital City’s weak budget performance.
The mayor said past administrations raising taxes repeatedly put too great a burden on small business, which now pay the highest taxes in the state. “Those tax increases raised money in the short term, but they drove businesses out and made it harder and harder for Hartford to grow,” he said.
Bronin conceded no hope will be coming from state government. “The best we can probably hope for is to avoid getting cut,” said Bronin, a former top legal advisor to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
He did say more needs to be done in terms of regional support. “We live in a region that is among the most affluent in America, yet we shoulder the responsibility of serving neighborhoods that are among the poorest in the nation,” he said.
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