State
Legislators Visit Marlborough
Written by Sheri Dursin
Spectrum Writing Services
On Thursday evening, June 15, two State
Legislators visited the Marlborough Business
Association at their monthly meeting. State
Senator Mary Ann Handley and State
Representative Pam Sawyer met with local
businesses to listen, discuss and respond to
their concerns for the future.
Before Handley and Sawyer
spoke, MBA members were given the opportunity to
express their concerns to these representatives
of our State government. It quickly became
apparent that an overwhelming pattern of
apprehension was shared by everyone. The cost
of taxes, energy, and gas are skyrocketing.
Small businesses are sacrificing a significant
portion of their income to these costs. In
turn, local residents are also suffering from
these price increases, and finding themselves
with fewer discretionary funds to spend.
Tourism and consumerism are both down, in turn
affecting the profits of our local businesses.
Business owners worry about their ability to
“stay afloat” with the competition from big
businesses, the rising costs of taxes and
energy, and the loss of customers and tourists.
Almost everyone present echoed the necessity of
adequate funding for the sewers in Marlborough
as a critical element in moving Marlborough
forward.
Other concerns brought
before Senator Handley and Representative Sawyer
were the costs of health care and prescription
medication, the overall wellness of our
residents and their children, violence in
Hartford, the rising cost of college education,
and the way the budget surplus is being spent.
Senator Mary Ann Handley
(D), is serving her fifth term representing the
4th Senatorial District, which
includes Marlborough, Manchester, Glastonbury,
and Bolton. She began her remarks speaking
about the “great unease in our society.” She
realizes that people are gravely concerned about
the economy and how they will make ends meet.
Handley admitted that there are certain things
over which we have no control. “We can’t do a
lot about Exxon… we can’t do anything about
what’s going on all over the world.” But she
wanted to focus on what could be accomplished at
the State level. “We can talk about how
the State can help small businesses.”
Handley acknowledged that
taxes are high, and believes we need to commit
ourselves to property tax reform. Tax relief is
not enough, she stated, as she talked about the
possibility of shifting the burden to the State
for education, roads, etc. But she also
cautioned that “it’s not an easy conversation to
have.” Connecticut has to either shift how we
spend our money or raise some more tax money
from other sources in order to reduce the burden
on small towns.
“My promise is that we in
the State must recognize the uneasiness,”
Handley stated. She believes serious
conversations need to take place on the State
level about how to assist towns. Handley also
believes that the State must work on a
comprehensive energy bill, and she wants to see
health care addressed in the next legislative
session. “We need to address this ourselves.
We can’t leave it to Washington.”
Pam Sawyer (R) is currently
serving in her seventh term as State
Representative for the 55th District which
includes the towns of Andover, Bolton, Hebron,
and Marlborough. Sawyer echoed many of
Handley’s sentiments about tax reform and the
need for an energy bill. “I believe that we
should be reducing the taxes on electricity for
small businesses.” Sawyer expressed regret that
an energy bill was not part of the last
legislative session. She also made some of the
following points:
·
Small businesses (50 or fewer
employees) are eligible to be part of MEHIP, the
Municipal Employees Health Insurance Pool.
MEHIP was created by the Connecticut Legislature
in 1996, so that the State could create a cost
effective health care plan for municipalities.
This State Employee Health Plan is open to, but
not mandatory for, municipal and small business
employees.
·
The State Teacher Retirement Fund
is $5 billion “in the hole.” This year, it was
fully funded out of the surplus, but we did not
build it into the budget for years to come.
As for the Marlborough
sewer project, both Handley and Sawyer indicated
that sufficient money to fund the sewers is
currently in a bonded bill. Handley stated that
the Legislature is not going to take up the bill
because it is likely that Governor Rell will
veto. Sawyer added that Governor Rell wants to
“look very carefully at the bonding package.”
Many thanks to John
Spellman for hosting the meeting at the
Marlborough Tavern and to Selectman Sharon
Reiner for bringing the legislators to our
meeting.
