With the bitter battle over tolls over, at least for now, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has announced plans to move forward with making $150 million in delayed municipal aid available.
Lamont had refused to release those funds until a vote on tolls, or on an alternative option for funding transportation maintenance and improvements, took place. But with the governor”™s decision last week to “take a pause” on the issue, he has decided to begin the process of releasing the municipal aid.
“The time has come to move forward with a targeted, municipal aid bond package that will include new authorizations so that we can immediately deliver on the promises we have made to our municipalities,” Lamont wrote to Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw. “We are now eight months into the fiscal year without solutions to our transportation needs and a bond package. No longer can our cities and towns wait.”
Delayed since July 1, the state funds are used by Connecticut”™s 169 municipalities for various infrastructure-related projects:
Ӣ $60 million falls under the stateӪs Town Aid Road (TAR) program, which provides for the removal of snow, fallen trees and brush, as well as for road repaving;
Ӣ $30 million is provided for the Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCIP) for sidewalk, parking lot, and municipal building upgrades; and
Ӣ $60 million is set aside for a number of various other public works programs.
Those amounts are the same as were approved for 2018-19.
In his letter, Lamont asked McCaw to “provide a municipal aid bond package to the legislature, requesting passage of the bill no later than March 6, 2020.” Following passage, a Bond Commission meeting will be held to approve the initiative.
Lamont”™s administration is also seeking the bonding of $475 million this fiscal year for municipal school construction projects.
