Build now, pay later? It’s not going to be that easy

From CT Mirror. As Gov. Ned Lamont fishes for legislative support for his new transportation plan, he’s dangling some juicy bait: hundreds of millions in low-interest federal loans that can rebuild infrastructure and jump-start Connecticut’s economy now — but don’t come due for 10 or 15 years. If that sounds a little too good to…

Connecticut Capital

From CT Mirror.

As Gov. Ned Lamont fishes for legislative support for his new transportation plan, he’s dangling some juicy bait: hundreds of millions in low-interest federal loans that can rebuild infrastructure and jump-start Connecticut’s economy now — but don’t come due for 10 or 15 years.

If that sounds a little too good to be true, however, you wouldn’t be wrong.

That’s because while the governor reels in lawmakers with visions of new bridges and wider highways, his plan also comes with a hook: Connecticut can’t leave the entire bill for its children to pay off.

Some new source of revenue must be established now and the dollars set aside, especially in a state that already has dumped more than $30 billion in pension debt on future taxpayers.

For Lamont, that new source of revenue is a network of tolls – albeit a much smaller one than he proposed in February.

And while his administration briefs lawmakers on the transportation plan in hopes of securing a special session later this fall, legislators have come within nibbling distance — but haven’t yet bit.

See the complete article from CT Mirror online.

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