HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio)—Connecticut's State Senate President pro tempore is proposing a three-tiered structure for the state's Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes (PILOT) programs in order to better aid municipalities.
State Senator Martin Looney (D-New Haven, Hamden and North Haven) is putting forth the new system to assert the need for the state to renew its commitment in fully funding the PILOT programs for state property and for private colleges and hospitals.
According to Looney, the programs should have a tiered system that reflect equity and need in a way that the current system does not with same-rate reimbursement.
When everyone is reimbursed at the same rate, Looney said during a virtual press conference Monday, it doesn't reflect actual need in terms of the amount of tax-exempt properties and of the equity reflected in net grand lists per capita.
Under Looney's proposal, the programs would have different rates of reimbursement depending on tax-exempt property percentages and per capita net grand lists of municipalities.
"The first tier with the highest rate of reimbursement at 50% would be for those communities whose net grand lists per capita is under 100-thousand dollars. The second tier would be those between 100 and 200-thousand, and the third tier would be those with net grand lists over 200-thousand," Looney said.
The proposed structure would get those communities in the third tier even more reimbursement than what is being given currently, Looney said, because the current level of reimbursement is 26.9%.
"This would basically double the highest tier but increase it even at the lowest tier," Looney said.
There would be 32 communities at the highest tier of reimbursement, 101 communities at the second level and 36 communities at the third, according to Looney.
Many leaders of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities supported him in the reform of the PILOT programs during the virtual press conference Monday, including Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, as well as Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter.
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