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The outgoing county Legislature ended its two-year term the same way it began — with a lawsuit. Both times it pitted the Democrat-controlled Legislature against the Republican county executive. Both times it involved government spending. In 2007, it was implementing a hiring freeze. This year, the Legislature took the county executive to court over whether or not he could partially veto cut positions (which were later spared) at the Board of Elections. This case will appear in the State Supreme Court on Dec. 21.
Because the overall adoption of the 2010 county budget hinges on the court’s decision in the Dec. 21 hearing, it is not presently known how much taxes will rise. But taxpayers should brace themselves. Taxes will rise, and they will rise a lot. Members of the current Legislature, when faced with many tough choices, found themselves unable to cut spending.
Going into the budget process, all knew there would be tough choices to be made to keep spending in check. Coming out of the budget process, it appears that the county taxpayer had very few friends in the Legislature.
Legislators increased the property tax levy 8.9 percent in their adopted budget, which, according to the county budget office, would increase property taxes 13.9 percent in 2010 to $289 per $1,000 of assessed value. From this the county executive made more than 150 vetoes, most overridden by the Legislature. Noble community programs were preserved but at a high cost to the struggling taxpayer, of which there are many. The county unemployment rate, with 11,600 people currently out of work, is the highest since 1994.
Taxpayer beware. The 13.9-percent property tax increase does not include the $6.5 million net service fee that the county is required to pay the Resource Recovery Agency’s Poughkeepsie-based waste-to-energy plant.
Nor does it include $6 million in revenues from the termination of the exemption on sales tax on clothing. The new Legislature will have to take up these issues in its first meetings in January. Passing on such an egregious budget with two huge holes in it onto the new Legislature is flat out irresponsible.
The Legislature also made a first-time policy last week to extend the arm of our county government into schools via school resource officers (sheriff’s deputies).While this had been the practice in six area schools, hitherto the Legislature had never specifically voted on it. The result is a further extension of county government beyond its traditional borders.
Factor in the quagmire at the county Board of Elections, whose budget in recent years has increased 400 percent from $874,000 in 2005 to $4.4 million in 2009. When one considers that the county government is considering passing down the cost of elections to the towns, absent some provision to cut the fat at the Board of Elections, our towns have the potential to be hit hard.
Lawsuits. Double-digit property taxes. Enormous budget gaps. Out-of-control spending. Enlarged government powers. These are challenging times to be entering the Legislature. Thank you for your anticipated patience as I attempt to find some relief for the overburdened taxpayer.
Michael Kelsey is the county-legislator-elect for the towns of Amenia, Washington, Stanford, Pleasant Valley and the village of Millbrook. He will be sworn in on Jan. 5, 2010. Write him at KelseyESQ@yahoo.com.
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.