February 7, 2017

Plainfield Residents Voice Concerns Over Pensions During Town Hall

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PLAINFIELD – State Rep. Anne Dauphinais (R-44), State Rep. Kevin Skulczyck (R-45), and State Sen. Heather Somers (R-18), met with members of the community to discuss current issues facing their districts at Plainfield Town Hall on February 2.

Area residents inquired about a vast array of topics, with the most common theme being the upcoming governor’s budget and which cuts are most likely to be included. Other topics outlined during the public forum included pension reform, the mileage tax proposal, legalization, and the Affordable care Act.

Rep. Skulczyck believes much work still has to be done to fix the current pension structure. “The pension system needs total reform. We need to honor our obligations to the existing work pool as well as retirees, but it is irresponsible to not fix a broken system,” he said. “We will continue to fight for the future of Connecticut.”

“On Wednesday, the General Assembly met to vote on a resolution that would change our state pension payment plan.This resolution did nothing for the Labor Unions and cost the tax payers of Connecticut 11 billion dollars. Additionally, this new agreement gave Governor Malloy 500 million dollars more to spend each year for the next couple of years,” Rep. Dauphinais said. “Ultimately this continues to push our debt onto future generations and shows no appetite by the Governor and his party to reign in spending. ” It is immoral to leave this kind of debt for our future generations and increases the cost to the taxpayers even more. “We are already the second highest taxed state in the country which is the very reason citizens are leaving CT.”

“To create an economy that produces jobs requires the people in Hartford to ask the tough questions about pension costs,” said State Sen. Heather Somers. “You can’t reduce costs if you keep putting off the bills and hope the problem will solve itself. Government costs too much and we must reform our pension system with direct talks with our state employees to discuss solutions.”

The governor’s budget proposal is scheduled to take place Wednesday. It won’t officially be finalized until sometime in late May or early June.

Representative Dauphinais serves the 44th House District representing the towns of Killingly and Plainfield.

Representative Skulczyzk serves the 45th House District representing Griswold, Lisbon, Plainfield, Sterling and Voluntown.

Senator Somers represents the 18th Senate District including the towns of Griswold, Groton, North Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, Sterling, Stonington and Voluntown.

Anyone who was unable to attend the event but would like to speak with their legislator may do so by contacting Rep. Skulczyck and Rep. Dauphinais at 860-240-8700 or Sen. Somers at 860-240-8800.