During Luke Bronin’s second year as Hartford mayor, the city suffered multiple credit downgrades and came within weeks of defaulting on its bond obligations.
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Here is a look back at the five business, nonprofit and higher education leaders we watched in 2017.
During Luke Bronin's second year as Hartford mayor, the city suffered multiple credit downgrades and came within weeks of defaulting on its bond obligations.
There was even a public forum held where a former Detroit official and a Rhode Island mayor recounted what it's like when a city goes bankrupt.
Despite all that, Hartford remains solvent, at least for now.
Bronin has spent much of his year warning of the city's long-developing and unsustainable fiscal situation and the need for a more regional approach to local government in the state. His clarion call ultimately helped sway state lawmakers to approve a lifeline for Hartford in the $41.3 billion state budget passed in October.
The state will help Hartford restructure and make payments on more than $600 million in debt.
In exchange, the city is applying to the state for a distressed-municipality status under a newly created municipal accountability review board (MARB).
The board will have some oversight over the city's finances, but its powers could increase if the state thinks it would ensure the city's fiscal sustainability and protect the state's interests.
That extra authority could include approving or modifying education budgets, approving contracts exceeding certain amounts, and approving or rejecting new terms of union contracts.
Bronin, a Democrat, backed formation of an accountability review board-like proposal during his first few months in office. He failed to get it in his first year, but succeeded in 2018.
“With the tools that are in this budget, it's possible to achieve a sustainable result outside of bankruptcy, and that's what we're doing,” Bronin said in a recent interview.
While things are looking less urgent for the city, Hartford is not out of the woods yet. Bronin's former boss, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said so himself shortly after the state budget passed.
Unless all stakeholders come to the table and work out contract and debt restructuring arrangements, “the city will have no recourse but to go bankrupt,” Malloy said.
However, several city unions, including police and firefighters, have agreed to new labor contracts that will purportedly save the city millions of dollars annually.
Have the city's well-publicized struggles damaged its prospects for investment? While Bronin acknowledges a “perception challenge,” he doesn't think they have.
“I think what investors and businesses see is that we are determined to fix the problem that has held us back for a long time, which is that we've had structural deficits year after year, tremendous uncertainty,” he said. “I think we have a chance now to really build some momentum.”
But whether Bronin will remain a central part of that momentum remains to be seen.
After a year of flirting with Ch. 9 bankruptcy, Bronin is now flirting with higher office.
In November, the 38-year-old former Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Navy intelligence officer, U.S. Treasury official and chief counsel to Malloy, said he's weighing a run for governor. He formed an exploratory committee in December. His decision to consider a run came after the presumptive Democratic frontrunner, Nancy Wyman, said she would not be running. Malloy announced earlier this year that he wouldn't seek a third term.
Read about all Five We Watched profiles.
