2016 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 4 - Management of State Agencies
Chapter 50 - Office of Policy and Management: General Provisions; Budget and Appropriations; State Planning
Section 4-124s - Regional performance incentive program.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Regional council of governments” means any such council organized under the provisions of sections 4-124i to 4-124p, inclusive;
(2) “Municipality” means a town, city or consolidated town and borough;
(3) “Legislative body” means the board of selectmen, town council, city council, board of alderman, board of directors, board of representatives or board of the warden and burgesses of a municipality;
(4) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management or the designee of the secretary; and
(5) “Regional educational service center” has the same meaning as provided in section 10-282.
(b) There is established a regional performance incentive program that shall be administered by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. On or before December 31, 2011, and annually thereafter, any regional council of governments, any two or more municipalities acting through a regional council of governments, any economic development district, any regional educational service center or any combination thereof may submit a proposal to the secretary for: (1) The joint provision of any service that one or more participating municipalities of such council, educational service center or agency currently provide but which is not provided on a regional basis, (2) a planning study regarding the joint provision of any service on a regional basis, or (3) shared information technology services. A copy of said proposal shall be sent to the legislators representing said participating municipalities. Any local or regional board of education or regional educational service center serving a population greater than one hundred thousand may submit a proposal to the secretary for a regional special education initiative.
(c) (1) A regional council of governments, an economic development district, a regional educational service center or a local or regional board of education shall submit each proposal in the form and manner the secretary prescribes and shall, at a minimum, provide the following information for each proposal: (A) Service or initiative description; (B) the explanation of the need for such service or initiative; (C) the method of delivering such service or initiative on a regional basis; (D) the organization that would be responsible for regional service or initiative delivery; (E) a description of the population that would be served; (F) the manner in which regional service or initiative delivery will achieve economies of scale; (G) the amount by which participating municipalities will reduce their mill rates as a result of savings realized; (H) a cost benefit analysis for the provision of the service or initiative by each participating municipality and by the entity or board of education submitting the proposal; (I) a plan of implementation for delivery of the service or initiative on a regional basis; (J) a resolution endorsing such proposal approved by the legislative body of each participating municipality; and (K) an explanation of the potential legal obstacles, if any, to the regional provision of the service or initiative.
(2) The secretary shall review each proposal and shall award grants for proposals the secretary determines best meet the requirements of this section. In awarding such grants, the secretary shall give priority to a proposal submitted by (A) any entity specified in subsection (a) of this section that includes participation of all of the member municipalities of such entity, and which may increase the purchasing power of participating municipalities or provide a cost savings initiative resulting in a decrease in expenses of such municipalities, allowing such municipalities to lower property taxes, (B) any economic development district, and (C) any local or regional board of education.
(d) On or before December 31, 2013, and annually thereafter until December 31, 2018, in addition to any proposal submitted pursuant to this section, any municipality or regional council of governments may apply to the secretary for a grant to fund: (1) Operating costs associated with connecting to the state-wide high speed, flexible network developed pursuant to section 4d-80, including the costs to connect at the same rate as other government entities served by such network; and (2) capital cost associated with connecting to such network, including expenses associated with building out the internal fiber network connections required to connect to such network, provided the secretary shall make any such grant available in accordance with the two-year schedule by which the Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology recommends connecting each municipality and regional council of governments to such network. Any municipality or regional council of governments shall submit each application in the form and manner the secretary prescribes.
(e) The secretary shall submit to the Governor and the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding a report on the grants provided pursuant to this section. Each such report shall include information on the amount of each grant, and the potential of each grant for leveraging other public and private investments. The secretary shall submit a report for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2011, not later than February 1, 2012, and shall submit a report for each subsequent fiscal year not later than the first day of March in such fiscal year. Such reports shall include the property tax reductions achieved by means of the program established pursuant to this section.
(P.A. 07-239, S. 8; P.A. 08-182, S. 11; P.A. 11-61, S. 5; P.A. 13-247, S. 253, 254; P.A. 14-122, S. 4, 5; P.A. 16-144, S. 2.)
History: P.A. 07-239 effective July 1, 2007; P.A. 08-182 amended Subsec. (a) by adding Subdivs. (4) to (6) defining “municipality”, “legislative body” and “secretary”, respectively, amended Subsec. (b) by adding provisions re submission of proposals for joint services or a planning study and deleting prior submittal requirements, replaced former Subsec. (c) with new Subsec. (c) re information to be submitted to secretary and criteria and priority for awarding grants, and amended Subsec. (d) by revising provisions re submittal deadlines and by adding provision requiring report to include information on property tax reductions, effective July 1, 2008; P.A. 11-61 amended Subsec. (b) to add as eligible entities any 2 or more municipalities and economic development districts and to change application dates from December 1, 2007, and December 31, 2008, to December 1, 2011, and December 31, 2011, respectively, amended Subsec. (c)(2) to replace “such member municipalities” with “participating municipalities” and add Subpara. (B) re economic development district, and amended Subsec. (d) to change reporting dates from July 1, 2007, and February 1, 2008, to July 1, 2011, and February 1, 2012, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-247 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting provision re submission of proposal by specified entities for joint provision of service or services currently provided by municipalities within region of such an entity or contiguous thereto, but not provided on a regional basis, by authorizing specified entities to submit proposal for purposes described in Subdivs. (1) and (2) and by adding Subdiv. (3) re shared information technology services, added new Subsec. (d) re applying for a grant and redesignated existing Subsec. (d) as Subsec. (e), effective June 19, 2013, and amended Subsec. (a) by deleting former Subdivs. (2) and (3) re definitions of “regional council of elected officials” and “regional planning agency” and redesignating existing Subdivs. (4) to (6) as Subdivs. (2) to (4), amended Subsec. (b) by deleting references to regional planning agency and regional council of elected officials and making conforming changes, amended Subsec. (c)(1) by replacing “An entity specified in subsection (a) of this section” with “A regional council of governments or an economic development district” and amended Subsec. (d)(1) by adding provision re including costs to connect at same rate as other government entities, effective January 1, 2015; P.A. 14-122 amended Subsec. (a) to redefine “legislative body” by substituting “board of the warden” for “board of the mayor”; P.A. 16-144 added Subdiv. (5) re definition of “regional educational service center” in Subsec. (a), added references to regional educational service center and added provision authorizing local or regional board of education or regional educational service center serving population greater than 100,000 to submit proposal for regional special education initiative in Subsec. (b), added references to regional educational service center or local or regional board of education and added references to initiative in Subsec. (c) and added “until December 31, 2018” in Subsec. (d), effective June 9, 2016.
See Sec. 4-66k re regional planning incentive account.
