Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Fazio has introduced a plan to reduce Connecticut’s over-reliance on municipal property tax. The plan includes boosting state education grants, reducing exemptions for private universities and hospitals, and capping future mill rate hikes.

Key Components of the Plan

Fazio’s strategy centers on tying Connecticut’s chief operating grant for local schools to the rate of inflation. This would trigger an extra $66 million for local school districts, based on a 2.7% hike in the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) program.

The plan also proposes capping municipalities’ ability to boost local taxes by 2% or the inflation rate, whichever is greater. Additionally, Fazio suggests challenging the legislature not to issue new mandates on cities and towns unless it’s prepared to pay for those directives out of the state budget.

Fazio estimates that he could channel tens of millions of dollars annually into local coffers by curbing or ending longstanding tax breaks for nonprofit universities and hospitals. He argues that some institutions, such as Yale University, effectively operate as corporations and should not be exempt from paying full property taxes.

Reaction to the Plan

Democratic lawmakers have criticized Fazio’s plan, with Gov. Ned Lamont’s campaign spokesman, Rob Blanchard, stating that Fazio’s approach breaks the fiscal ‘guardrails’ and is unachievable. However, Fazio counters that his plan is achievable if Democratic legislators change their big-spending habit.

The Connecticut Hospital Association has also expressed concerns about the proposal, stating that hospitals make substantial contributions to the state and their communities, paying hundreds of millions annually in taxes.

Original reporting: The Connecticut Mirror — read the source article.