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Community Corner

Malloy's Budget: What It Means For MCC

Gov. Malloy is asking for "shared sacrifice" in his budget proposal, but some institutions, like Manchester Community College, are already stretched to their limit.

The day before Gov. Dan Malloy revealed his for the next two fiscal years, I sat in a room with other members of the faculty and staff of Manchester Community College to discuss ways the college could save money in these tough economic times.

There were many solid ideas: turning off lights when rooms are not in use, turning down the heat, reducing the amount of paper, ink and other supplies used. Most of us have had to cut back on our own household expenses, so we’re no strangers to the idea of reducing expenditures.

But after I listened to the governor’s budget address, I realized that those incremental savings suggested were not going to do it. He wants us to do more than shut off a few lights and put on an extra sweater, he wants everyone statewide to live by candlelight while wearing a snowsuit!

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Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but not by much. The theme of “shared sacrifice” ran through his speech like a leaky faucet.

(Just an aside here about Malloy’s speech delivery: I teach public speaking and one of the techniques I suggest students use to gain the attention of an audience is to begin with a quote. But it needs to be relevant to the topic in order to be effective. Malloy used a quote from the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. We’re all familiar with the last two lines of this famous piece: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Malloy used this quote at the start of his address to, I guess, ease into the idea that tax hikes are needed in Connecticut. But that’s not the “road less traveled by” for us. How do you think we became a state with one of the highest taxes rates in the U.S.? For Connecticut, that’s the road too often taken. But I digress.)

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When I hear the term “shared sacrifice” I think that means that everyone will give a little and share the burden more equitably. But that’s not what I heard Wednesday. Oh, there was lots of talk about giving: state worker givebacks in the form of furlough days and wage freezes, new and higher taxes given by residents and municipalities. Malloy said he had reduced the governor’s staff by 15 percent as an example of the kind of “shared sacrifice” needed. Great, thanks.

But how about taking on some of the harder, more expensive issues that seem to be untouchable here in the “Land of Steady Habits,” like more regionalization of public services as other, larger, states do? How about reducing some of the legislative staff, with its drivers and “assistants” and other unnecessary functionaries?

There is a lot that I agree with in Malloy’s proposal. The state needs to focus on attracting businesses that can provide jobs. The state needs to reduce its borrowing. The state needs to streamline itself and eliminate redundancies among state agencies. Yes!

But we do not need to make things that are already tough for middle-income residents – like putting gas in the car or buying new clothes and shoes for growing children - tougher with higher taxes.  To me, raising the sales tax should be a last resort, not the first stop on the budget train. It’s asking people to do the same things they have already been struggling to do with even less.

And I know over at MCC, where we’ve had to because we have no more room in our classes, we are already struggling to maintain the quality of what we do with what we already have. Over the past two years the college has lost several employees to retirement incentive programs offered during Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration. And many of those positions, and other open positions, have not, and will not, be filled.

Studies show that when the economy is down college enrollment, particularly at more-affordable community colleges, goes up.

But we will have to turn away many of those who turn to places like MCC to get job retraining, learn new skills or complete a degree program abandoned back when times were good and jobs were plentiful. We just can’t do any more with any less.

Gov. Malloy is embarking on a listening tour of the state to get feedback on his budget proposal and is scheduled to appear in Manchester March 29, from 7-8 p.m., in the Lincoln Center Hearing Room, 494 Main St.

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