Competition in sports and business raises the level of play of those vying for victory or customers. The same can be said for politics. As more candidates throw their hat in the ring for political office, it helps broaden the marketplace of ideas and gives voters more choice. Those are all positives.
That’s why it’s refreshing to see competition heating up in this year’s Hartford mayoral race. Already, four candidates have entered the race, and we still have 10 months before voters head to the polls. Others may jump in before all is said and done.
The declared candidates, who are all Democrats, include incumbent Mayor Pedro Segarra, Hartford lawyers Luke Bronin and John Q. Gale, and City Councilman Joel Cruz (Cruz is officially a member of the Working Families Party).
Some may argue that the number of Democrats entering the race shows weakness of the incumbent mayor. That may or may not be true (we aren’t choosing sides yet), but it also demonstrates that Hartford’s future shows promise.
Few people would jump on a sinking ship, let alone agree to take the captain’s seat. If the city’s future showed little signs of life, it would be much harder to convince quality and qualified candidates to run for mayor.
The fact that this year’s race is generating interest among a diverse swath of candidates (even though they are all from the same party) is a good sign. No doubt, the prospects of a renaissance in downtown Hartford makes the city and the mayor’s job more attractive.
It would be nice to get a Republican or two to join the race as well.
Even with brightening prospects, however, the city still faces major challenges that all candidates must address. Two that are top of mind to businesses are the budget and property taxes, which are inextricably linked.
City finances remain a big problem, and Hartford is likely to face another significant budget deficit in the year ahead. Making further cuts to an already austere budget will only get the city so far. What Hartford needs is a grand plan to grow its tax base, not just downtown but in the surrounding neighborhoods as well.
To do that, the city must tackle its cumbersome commercial property tax burden. Hartford is the only Connecticut municipality that assesses commercial property owners a higher tax rate than residential owners. And with a mill rate over 70 there is little incentive to invest in Hartford without some sort of government subsidy or tax break.
City leaders past and present have attempted to address the issue but it’s proved to be too politically risky. There is no easy solution to make Hartford more affordable for businesses and residents, but this year’s mayoral candidates must offer a blueprint to rectify the problem. Any plan should include a joint partnership with Hartford’s state legislative delegation, which must ultimately get reforms approved by the General Assembly.
Education and crime also will be issues closely watched by the business community. We hope all the candidates bring their best policy ideas to the campaign trail (something lacking in last year’s gubernatorial election). While we may not agree with all of them, the more discussions we have about how to improve Hartford’s future prospects, the better shot we have in finding the right solutions.
