The upcoming budget-setting session of the General Assembly has a great chance to be historic, but lawmakers and Gov. M. Jodi Rell will have to avoid mainstream thinking if they're to make massive changes in the onerous property tax system.

It's going to take unprecedented cooperation between towns and cities.

Anyone who's visited the Capitol for more than a hour-long guided tour knows that it's nearly impossible getting the various House and Senate factions to agree on anything more complicated than toppings on their dinner pizza.

Last year, a proposal that would have closed some of the less-performing rural probate courts was attacked and killed by lawmakers who know that political power and influence depends on the availability of jobs.

So legislators from affected towns lashed out with all their power, perceived and otherwise, to beat back the political threat. Since most people don't know what the probate courts do and don't even utilize them until they're dead, my idea shouldn't get that kind of isolated me-me-me political opposition.

Judging by the tradition of legislative provincialism, my idea, which was duly stolen from a former Bridgeport lawmaker, makes way too much sense to even see the light of day, or even a debate on the House floor, since it's such a threat to the status quo. Yet, it's fair and arguably simple — equalize the tax rate for commercial properties, thus ending competition among towns, cities and regions seeking to woo businesses

Advertisement
away from each other.

If this idea were in place 10 years ago, what do you think Bridgeport's economy and property tax rate would look like right now? There'd probably be less development in Shelton, but maybe the rush-hour traffic on Route 8 wouldn't be bumper-to-bumper, either.

Take, for another example, Route 1, known in most places in southwestern Connecticut as the Boston Post Road. The over-saturated commercialism of the Post Road in Westport or Fairfield or Stratford or Milford provides a stark contrast to the empty lots and boarded up storefronts along the stretch of Route 1 in Bridgeport. Back in 2002, Lee Samowitz, who represented Bridgeport's Black Rock district, submitted the sensible-but-out-of-the-box legislation, which went no where because of the threat to the suburbs, whose lawmakers dominate the General Assembly.

Samowitz retired from the General Assembly rather than run for a tenth term in 2002, after the city lost a House seat following the statewide redistricting that, coincidentally, shifted the city's old 125th District to New Canaan and part of Wilton.

"I knew I'd get to the suburbs," Samowitz joked over the phone the other day, contemplating why he and his family remain in the city, even though his house has an eye-popping tax bill.

"The big problem with Connecticut's current tax structure is that it's an all-or-nothing situation that discourages cooperation," he said. "It's like our state has diabetes, because it encourages business to go to low-taxed, pristine communities and break zoning to put in their businesses."

So while businesses should be naturally attracted to places such as Bridgeport, which have the infrastructure and available property, they go to surrounding towns instead for the lower taxes.

"Right now, there's no incentive to help anybody," said Samowitz, a lawyer who recalled that when he started in the General Assembly back in 1983, most of Bridgeport's property taxes came from businesses. That burden shifted inexorably but radically to the backs of homeowners.

In a nutshell, the idea would be to allow surrounding suburbs, the so-called inner-ring towns, to make voluntary deals with the major, distressed cities, to assess commercial properties at the higher, city tax rate.

The suburb, say Fairfield, would still take its exiting mill rate from businesses, but Fairfield and Bridgeport would split the difference, in the spirit of regional cooperation, while providing a carrot to the town.

So if Bridgeport's mill rate were 50 and Fairfield's 40, the town and city would divide the extra 10 mills.

The city and town would have corresponding reductions in property taxes or the town could invest money in non-profit organizations such as hospitals, all of which happen to be in Bridgeport, or Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo.

The legislation, which died in 2002, would allow towns and cities throughout a particular congressional district to reach such agreements.

"If towns were given an opportunity to negotiate uniformity in commercial mill rates and share revenue, we would forge municipal cooperation and reduce all-or-nothing competition between towns and restore the benefits of county government without duplication," Samowitz said.

"Even regional business chambers of commerce would be hard pressed to oppose a plan that reduces the burden for their urban constituency when everyone has been silent to the suffering, oppressive property tax on Bridgeport and other municipalities," he said.

This is the kind of idea that makes so much sense, it's practically doomed. But this is the kind of historic steps that could happen, starting as early as next week, when Gov. M. Jodi Rell sits down for a pre-session chat with Speaker of the House Jim Amann, D-Milford.

Ken Dixon's Capitol View appears Sundays in the Connecticut Post. You may reach him in the Capitol at (860) 549-4670 or e-mail him at dixon.connpost@snet.net.