by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — Transit projects, schools and housing were the big winners in Tuesday’s State Bond Commission meeting. The commission approved about $1.9 billion in funds for 50 projects, ranging in cost from a few hundred thousand dollars into the hundreds of millions.
“This all fits within our bond caps and all the rules we’ve set for ourselves,” said Gov. Ned Lamont, who chairs the commission. “My North Star is usually doing everything I can to hold fixed costs as a percentage of our overall budget.”
Lamont said over the past eight years, Connecticut has been able to bring down fixed costs – particularly pension costs – and also to reduce labor costs. Health care costs remain a concern, he said.
“It’s sort of interesting that we’re doing more in transportation and housing than ever before, but I do worry that costs are escalating big time,” he said. He said Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto estimated costs – including things like roads, bridges and asphalt – were up about 70% in the past five years.
“That’s what we’re trying to manage through as we keep an eye on our fixes costs here,” he said.
The meeting itself was uneventful, with only two pauses for discussion, both initiated by state Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, who is running for governor against Lamont.
Item #1 was a $125 million allocation for the Office of Policy and Management to finance grants in aid to electric distribution companies to cover the costs of hardship protection programs from the COVID-19 era that were previously financed through the Systems Benefits Charge on electric bills. Fazio commented that the authorization essentially shifted the burden from people’s electric bills to their tax bills.
“In the long term, in order to provide actual relief, we’ll need to permanently reduce the costs,” he said. “While these costs will shift some of the costs on people’s electric bills temporarily, that it’s a good time to remind ourselves that, permanently, we need to reduce many of these costs both in the public benefits charge and the supply portion of our bill.”
A few minutes later, Fazio paused action on Item #10, a $37.2 million request from the Housing Department to finance grants and loans for housing projects and programs under the FLEX Housing Program to provide financing for new construction or rehabilitation of housing units and for immediate needs in existing housing projects,
The 25-year-old FLEX program provides grants, loans, loan guarantees and deferred loans for the development and preservation of affordable housing. It is funded through General Obligation Bonds.
Fazio noted that the topic had been discussed at previous Bond Commission meetings, and cited a philosophical disagreement on the right way to fund more housing for the state.
Fazio said he favored the state’s Housing Trust Fund Program over the FLEX program.
The Trust Fund Program is a separate affordable housing fund that is bid competitively and also provides loans, financing and grants to municipalities and developers
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