January 6, 2009 Connecticut cities want more aid from lawmakers Play video

(Brian Burnell, NECN) - As the economy falters states and cities across the country deal with budget deficits. Some in the billions of dollars. In Connecticut -- the state's three biggest cities are looking for help, and one US Senator hopes the incoming Obama administration will provide it.

Connecticut's cities have long complained that they bear a bigger share of the societal load while getting shorted when the money is passed out. New Haven, for example, is home to Yale University. Prestigious, yes. But the city can't collect taxes on Yale property. The mayor's of New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport want more from state lawmakers. New Haven's mayor DeStefano points out that the federal government can run budget deficits and the state has numerous sources of income like the sales tax and income tax.

Mayor John DeStefano, D-New Haven, CT: Cities and towns do not have those choices. We have 2 sources of revenue. Property taxes and state aid and the way the system is set up now we exist in a state with the highest rate of property taxes in the nation.

A rate that is dropping along with the value of homes.

Brian Burnell, NECN: The deflating housing bubble not only affects the people who live in and perhaps lose their homes. It also affects the towns and cities that they live in. Mayors and municipal officials from across the state are looking for more money from the state and federal governments because their tax revenue is going down

They want more flexibility. The authority, for example, to charge user fees to cover city services. Maybe even the right to charge local sales taxes.

Mayor Bill Finch, D-Bridgeport, CT: We really have a long way to go. Bridgeport is a couple of blizzards away from bankruptcy.

Dire talk. Connecticut senator Chris Dodd says he hopes president-elect Obama institutes the moratorium on home foreclosures he talked about during the campaign feeling that is a good start to stabilizing cities and towns.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut: There are 5000 homes in Bridgeport under foreclosure. 5000. Can you imagine a city having 5000 homes not to mention the property tax loss with the declining values of the other houses where they're current on their mortgage obligations so the problem is serious. Its why I have been saying for 2 straight years you've got to put a tourniquet on the foreclosure problem. I'm not even interested in the short term that values begin to go up. I'd just like to stop them from continuing going down.

That, he thinks, would be at least a start.