Lamont Promises Dixwell Seniors Lower Property Taxes

High taxes. Vacant buildings. Gun violence at churches and at schools. And looming cuts to social services for the elderly.

Those were a few of the myriad concerns that seniors from the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center presented to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont during a Wednesday afternoon campaign stop at Bethel AME Church at 255 Goffe St.

Around 50 seniors gathered in the church’s basement conference room for the candidate meet-and-greet, which was organized by Lamont campaign staffer and New Haven resident Audrey Tyson.

In response, Lamont promised the seniors respect. And lower property taxes.

“We’re bringing down property taxes,” Lamont told the room, ​“allowing seniors to stay and age wherever they want to be, home or close to home.”

Lamont faces off against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski and unaffiliated gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel during Nov. 6’s general election.

Outgoing Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman introduced Lamont as a compassionate candidate, as someone who cares deeply about the welfare and housing and health of Connecticut’s children and seniors.

“The most important things in our lives are our families and our grandchildren,” she said to a round of applause from the many grandparents in the room. ​“My grandchildren live in this state. And the only man I want elected as governor of this state, that I will put my grandchildren in his hands, is Ned Lamont.”

Lamont then made his pitch to the room as a governor who will invest in education, drive down the price of prescription drugs, support Obamacare and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and, yes, lower property taxes.

In a gubernatorial campaign where both the Republican and the Democratic candidates have at times competed over who can best lower taxes, Lamont has proposed increasing the state’s property tax credit for middle class homeowners from $200 to $300. He has also proposed providing a $1,200 tax credit for working class families who pay more than 6.5 percent of their annual income in property taxes.

The Dixwell seniors in attendance asked about more than just taxes.

“I want to know what you’re going to about blight,” Sarah McClain said. She noted that the Goffe Street Armory is right across the street from the senior center and the church, and that it, along with many other vacant buildings in the city, could be put to better use than just standing there and slowly deteriorating.

“If they can’t be fixed, they ought to come down,” Lamont said about buildings like the armory. If they can be fixed, he said, they should be turned over to private businesses or converted into affordable housing.

Dixwell senior Mae Huckaby asked if and how Lamont as governor could help convert vacant buildings like the armory into safe places for seniors to live and spend time.

“People want to stay in their homes,” Lamont said. He said that Stefanowski’s plan to phase out the income tax would jack up property taxes, making staying put for seniors that much more difficult. He told Huckaby that his plan to lower property taxes will allow seniors to stay put in or near their homes.

Senior center president Rosa White asked Lamont how he would improve mental healthcare in the state and how he would prevent future shootings at churches, synagogues, schools, and on the streets of New Haven.

“I’ll be frank with you,” she said, ​“in my church, I don’t want to see armored guards.”

Rather than promising any new initiatives of his own, Lamont praised the work of Wyman and outgoing Gov. Dannel Malloy.

“They passed the most important gun safety laws in the country” after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, he said. And he praised them for pushing through ​“Second Chance Society” legislation that reduced the state’s prison population and eased the way for the formerly incarcerated to reintegrate into society.

After the event, White praised Lamont for taking an hour out of the afternoon to talk with New Haven seniors.

“You don’t often find a lot of politicians so down to earth,” she said.

Migdalia Castro, the city’s director of elderly services, asked Lamont how he will protect state-provided senior services like the renter rebate program, farmers market credits, and other senior-specific tax credits.

“After the babies,” she said, ​“the seniors are the most fragile.”

Lamont promised that his will be an administration that respects seniors. He said he will invest in education so that seniors’ grandchildren can get good-paying jobs and stay in the state, that he will invest in public transportation so that seniors can easily get around within the state, and that he will, yes, keep down property taxes.

Sadie Singleton asked the candidate point blank if he plans to raise taxes.

“No,” he said. ​“I will reduce the property tax.”

“So you will not raise taxes?” Singleton followed up.

“No,” he said. ​“I’m lowering property taxes.”