Municipalities win in short term, lose over long haul with Lamont s new budget
Keith M. Phaneuf, CTMirror.org
FacebookTwitterEmail
Connecticut cities and towns gain in the short term but lose out over the long haul in the new two-year budget Gov. Ned Lamont proposed Wednesday.
Using federal coronavirus pandemic relief dollars and state bonding, municipalities would get an extra $320 million next fiscal year and $220 million more in 2022-23, with a strong focus on the poorest communities.
But Lamont, who had to close a projected deficit of roughly $2.6 billion over the next two fiscal years combined, suspended an ongoing initiative to ramp up education grants to local districts.
‘For the public good’: Praise for Gov. Lamont’s effort to end Connecticut’s digital divide
FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedInRedditPinterest
Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press
Officials representing towns across the state as well as educators and political leaders are welcoming Gov. Ned Lamont’s move to introduce legislation that would make broadband and high speed internet services more widely available as well as cheaper in Connecticut.
Alarmed that 23 percent of Connecticut residents don’t have access to internet service of any kind, Lamont said the goal of his ambitious legislation is for the state to have universal broadband service by 2022. Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker lauded Lamont’s efforts, but said the problem of widespread access to affordable high speed internet is nothing new.