Delivering on his “debt diet” pledge, Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday will chair his first state Bond Commission meeting with a thinner slate of state-financed projects up for consideration.
The governor’s office said the agenda, which allocates tens of millions of dollars for highway infrastructure upgrades and $20 million in grants to support homeowners with crumbling foundations, represents a 65-plus percent decrease in bonded projects compared to amounts considered in first-quarter agendas over the last eight years under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Tuesday’s meeting, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, comes nearly two months after Lamont promised to reduce Connecticut’s borrowing by 39 percent.
In December, the bond commission greenlit dozens of projects during Malloy’s final meeting.
Lamont said the state needs to be more cautious about “nice to have” projects being proposed.
“These items represent critical economic development needs, statutory obligations, honoring our commitment to municipal aid, projects that are eligible for matching federal funds, and transportation projects that need to be funded in order to maintain a state of good repair,” Lamont said in a statement.
According to the agenda, the 10-member commission will consider a variety of projects, with many of them being ongoing commitments for municipal aid.
They include: $48.9 million to supplement federal highway funds, replace state roads and for state bridge improvement and replacement projects; $21.8 million for local bridge program grants; and $69 million to improve over 220 miles of state roadways and for transportation infrastructure repairs.
Other requests include:
- $30 million for the second year of town aid road grants.
- $2.6 million for reimbursement grants to Hartford, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Old Saybrook and Putnam for police-worn body cameras.
- $1.4 million for structural repairs to the state Department of Corrections’ New Haven parking garage on Whalley Avenue.
Another request calls for the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) to provide a construction bridge loan of $3.5 million to the developer of Hartford’s incoming Parkville Market. The project’s developer, Carlos Mouta, will then repay the loan back to the state after the facility is “operational and generating revenue,” the governor’s office said.