A PILOT Plea

HARTFORD — On a lobbying trip to the Capitol Wednesday, New Haven budget-weary pols scored an unexpected audience with the speaker of the house.

“We’ve got no place to go except bust our taxpayers or absolutely chop our services to the bone,” said Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield during a brief, unscheduled visit to the office of House Speaker Jim Amann. ​“The property tax system is busted, and we’re at the end of the road.”

Goldfield and a small crew of New Haven aldermen drove up to Hartford Wednesday to make a pitch for PILOT funds for tax-exempt property. Getting the state to fully fund PILOT has been City Hall lobbyists’ top priority as the city stares at a $10 million budget hole in its $466 million spending plan for FY08-09. The city’s PILOT program is underfunded by about $12 million, according to the budget passed by the Democrat-controlled Appropriations committee. PILOT stands for payments in lieu of taxes, state reimbursements to municipalities for tax-exempt properties like hospitals and universities.

Their trip came on the same day Amann announced he is not seeking reelection to his state rep seat, and as legislators entered crunch time before a May 7 end-of-session deadline.

In the car on the way to the Capitol, Aldermen Goldfield, Roland Lemar, Dolores Colon and Migdalia Castro strategized over how to wrestle support from the state on their key issue. New Haven’s State Rep. Cam Staples has succeeded in passing a plan through the joint Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee that would fund PILOT through a delivery tax and the sale of abandoned state property. The key will be getting other people on board. In the back seat of Goldfield’s black Scion, Lemar and Colon discussed how to reach people who could reach Amann.

“We want to push them to put pressure on Jim Amann, the speaker of the house — that’s what this is going to come down to,” agreed City Hall lobbyist Laoise King (pictured), meeting the alders in the Capitol cafeteria for a pre-game pep talk.

On the way out, the squadron — joined by Westville Alderwoman Ina Silverman and her father, former Alderman Bob Silverman — passed by New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon. Dillon has been at work on a task force on PILOT funds, and is doing her own research on expanding the program to include scattered-site housing.

“You can talk to Jimmy Amann! Be my guest,” Dillon called after the aldermen as they headed to the Capitol building, where lawmakers milled before a mid-morning session.

In the hall on the way to the Chambers appeared Amann himself.

How did the speaker feel about fully funding cities’ PILOT money? the Independent asked.

“Do you know how much we gave them in the last three years?” replied Amann. ​“Over a billion dollars.” He led this reporter to his office, where he produced a tally: In the past three budget years (FY06 to FY08), the state has poured $1.02 billion into the city of New Haven, including $58 million in bonding and $335 million in school construction.

Amann had the numbers at his fingertips because he was reacting to a letter he had just received from New Haven Mayor John DeStefano. In the letter, DeStefano criticized Amann for abandoning New Haven by refusing to support the delivery tax, those familiar with the document said.

“That delivery tax was quite a surprise to us,” and had no chance of surviving the governor’s desk anyway, Amann argued. (The delivery tax idea is considered dead at this point.)

Cooling down from the apparent spat with Mayor DeStefano, Amann made peace with the New Haven’s ambassadors by inviting them in for a five-minute chat.

From a couch in the speaker’s spacious Capitol den, Goldfield gave his PILOT plea.

“The property tax system is busted, and we’re at the end of the road,” Goldfield said. ​“We’re here for PILOT because PILOT was created in recognition of the social, educational and other burdens that we carry for the region. … We’ve got no place to go except bust our taxpayers or absolutely chop our services to the bone.”

Amann passed out the tally of what New Haven has received in the past three years. ​“I know you’re all hurtin’, but you’re one of 168 other communities that we gotta take care of.”

Click on the play arrow at the top of this story to watch their exchange.

Recognizing the need for a long-term solution to PILOT funding, Amann said he hoped a solution could be brokered to create a separate revenue source, much like the special transportation fund, which was established through the gas tax. Amann pledged to work with New Haveners after the session’s end.

Meanwhile, he made a mysterious allusion to a new initiative in the works that would send a short-term, one-year plug to New Haven’s PILOT woes. He said Rep. Staples had come up with the idea, and Amann fully supported it. He wouldn’t give details. ​“Ask Cam about it,” Amann said.

In the hallway, Staples wasn’t sure exactly which proposal Amann was referring to. ​“I’m glad” for Amann’s support, Staples quipped. ​“I’d better go figure out what he means.”

Staples said there were several ideas on the table that would help send cities aid. One idea, which passed through the Finance Committee as part of the delivery tax bill, is to take advantage of a windfall in state abandoned property. Sales of unclaimed property earned the state about $40 million last year; recent estimates predict a jump to $90 million for FY09. Staples proposes putting that extra $50 million towards PILOT — a move that would almost meet the $60 million needed to fully fund PILOT.

King, City Hall’s Lobbyist, said that $50 million would please the city — it would fund PILOT enough to fill New Haven’s budget gap.

Staples headed into Chambers to continue his quest for PILOT funds. ​“We shouldn’t allow PILOT to fall victim to the budget season.” If the state cries tough economic times and declines to fully fund PILOT, that means cities are likely struggling too, he agreed. ​“Municipal aid goes down when cities need it most,” he said.

Lack of state funding gets passed on to the cities: ​“You can’t stick your head in the sand at the Capitol and pretend you’re not raising property taxes,” Staples said.

Aldermen, who beamed in agreement with that comment, continued in search of sympathetic lawmakers before heading home to New Haven.