Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • May 15, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com OPINION & COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Auriemma's pro-growth message right, but will it resonate? J ust when we thought the circus around Connecticut's fiscal crisis couldn't get zanier, Connecticut's most famous sports celebrity took to Hartford's capitol hill last week to throw jabs at lawmakers for failing to make the state a more desirable place to live. UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was hired by the Connecticut Real- tors to give a pep talk to an industry whose vocation has been made much more arduous by the state's lack of economic growth and the negative media attention it has drawn. Connecticut, mired in a fiscal crisis, sadly boasts one of the slowest-growing econo- mies in the nation and one of the few states in the U.S. that has seen its population shrink in recent years. That, of course, makes it tougher to attract people to live and buy a home here. Individuals and their families migrate to job centers, and Connecticut certainly is not one, particularly compared to nearby Massachusetts and New York. Although Connecticut home sales hit a nearly decade high last year (32,235 homes traded hands vs. 29,644 a year earlier), median home prices on average are 17 percent below their 2007 pre-recession peak of $295,000, according to the Warren Group, a startling loss of homeowners' wealth. Auriemma, of course, was an interesting choice by Realtors to deliver their message. As the second-highest paid state employee (he made $2.1 million in fiscal 2016) whose direct employer (UConn) has received billions of dollars in state investment over the last few decades, Auriemma has certainly benefitted from state government's largesse. Even still, the accomplished coach is a popular and sharp-tongued motivational speaker who can deliver a tough message that just might resonate with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Auriemma's main message was for legislators to work as a team to solve the state's fiscal crisis and reshape Connecticut into a state that is able to compete more aggres- sively in recruiting jobs and people. To do that, lawmakers will need to pass a pro-growth state budget that doesn't raise taxes or the cost of living. It's a task looking more impossible as Connecticut's deficit — which has ballooned to nearly $5 billion over the next two fiscal years — only worsens. Even still, the business community, which ultimately attracts people to the state through job and career opportunities, will not take kindly to another round of tax hikes. Just last week, Connecticut's business climate was ranked fifth worst in the nation by the influential Chief Executive Magazine, whose readers, you guessed it, are among the nation's top CEOs. The state's tax and regulatory environment were the main drags on the ranking. One CEO lamented that Connecticut's biggest challenge is its "location between New York and Boston, as well as a poorly run legislature on both sides of the aisle." Those even mildly informed about the state's fiscal situation wonder outwardly or internally whether they can have a prosperous future in Connecticut. In recent years, more people have decided they can't and have pulled up stakes to migrate south. And those employed here who might be able to buy a home may be thinking twice, given the specter of rising local property taxes. As Auriemma told the crowd of 2,000 Realtors and state lawmakers, they're all in the recruiting business and "When people have a choice, you better give them a reason to pick you, not to sit back and wait for them to pick you." Despite its top-notch quality of life and highly educated workforce, Connecticut, for too long, hasn't given enough people or businesses the confidence to choose our great state. n OTHER VOICES State, local leaders have chance to reinvent CT government By Bruce Carlson T hroughout history, crises have been cru- cibles for ordinary people to do extraor- dinary things. Connecticut is at such a point financially. We need ordinary people to take action in ways that have not occurred in recent memory, and to stay focused on what is good for Con- necticut, rather than what is good for the individual or for any one political party. The dimensions of the state budget cri- sis are daunting, but they must be faced. By choosing not to run for re-election, Gov. Mal- loy is unshackled from needing to assuage the traditional Democratic base and take the necessary steps to help solve the bud- get crisis. This is his time to build his legacy and become remembered — not for the two largest tax increases in Connecticut's history, but as the governor who set the state on track to flour- ish in the next decade. Since success in building a new, balanced budget is going to require cuts that will be painful and additional rev- enue generation, we should look beyond what will get us through the next two years, and create a "2020 Vision," Con- necticut's plan for the next decade. This is the moment for legislators as well. They are not running for re-election this year. The pain caused by rightsizing Connecticut's spending to match its revenue-raising poten- tial will diminish if, in a year, the public sees that we are finally no longer facing deep defi- cits and that the plan is working. Right now, we don't care where the good ideas and leadership come from, all we want is for leaders to lead. It may well be that the legislative leadership will need to quickly take their caucuses through the five stages of grief, as it seems that many are stuck at denial and anger, and everyone, or at least a majority, is going to have to accept the crisis we are all confronting. It will take time, but this time is essen- tial to making good decisions. It may not be good policy to miss the deadlines for budget creation, or even the new fiscal year on July 1, but it would be better to come up with a long-term solution than to create another budget that will be out of balance before the ink is dry. Municipal government and its leaders must be part of the solution. The choice is whether they want to have it done to them, or have it done with them and help guide the changes coming down the pike. We have heard and read over the last few months that inefficiency at the state level should not lead to cuts at the municipal level because our cities and towns have been well run. What isn't said or recognized is that even if a town might be well run, it exists in a mas- sively inefficient system. How can we sustain 169 town govern- ments and nearly as many school systems? The opportunities for economies of scale are simply lost; and even more so when a town government and its local school system oper- ate on two separate budgets. The taxpayer can no longer support this system and the billions of dollars passed down from state government to prop it up. Cuts in municipal aid do not require towns to raise property taxes. If a town chooses to do that, that is its right. However, creativity and charting new courses might create bet- ter choices. For instance, there are 25 school districts in the whole state of Maryland, with nearly 50 percent more students in its system than in Connecticut. Are the students in Maryland being shortchanged by this? We have great technological opportunities to create efficiencies in towns, but they are not being utilized. When a Connecticut company like See, Click, Fix, which helps towns stay on top of non- emergency issues, has trouble making in-roads in Connect- icut towns, but is widely accepted by municipalities out- side the state, it tells me that our towns are not motivated to find efficiencies. There are plenty of guideposts already set for how to save money at the local level, whether it is the M.O.R.E. Commission report or the work of the Capitol Region Council of Governments and its member towns. The state and federal government have invested hundreds of millions of dol- lars to connect all 169 towns by state-of-the- art fiber optics systems. In many towns, this investment sits like the treadmill that a fam- ily buys with the best intentions, but goes unused in the basement. It is time to brush the dust off this system and put it to use to deliver today's efficiencies. The Connecticut Technology Council can contribute by creating a forum where we showcase the technologies available to help municipalities save money. Some of those technologies are in companies in Connecti- cut, and others are outside our borders. But we would be delighted to play our part on the technology side and introduce municipal and state officials to successful technologies being implemented around the country. This is the moment. This is the moment that all of our elected officials have an oppor- tunity to go from ordinary to extraordinary. Connecticut's future is in your hands. n Bruce Carlson is the president and CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council. HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM POLL Is buying a house in Connecticut today a smart investment? ● Yes ● No To vote, go online to HartfordBusiness.com. Last week's poll results: Will Gov. Malloy extract his targeted $1.6 billion in concessions from state employee unions? 19.3% Yes 80.7% No Bruce Carlson ▶ ▶ Right now, we don't care where the good ideas and leadership come from, all we want is for leaders to lead.

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