The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received October 7, 2026.
Imagine a Hartford where neither party could pass a budget alone. Where new spending needed votes from across the aisle. Where the minority had to be asked.
We had that Hartford in 2017. The Senate was tied 18 to 18, and the House stood at 79 to 72, so the parties wrote a budget together. It gave towns relief from some state mandates and built the fiscal guardrails: a real spending cap, a bond cap, and a volatility cap that sends windfall income tax receipts to reserves and pension debt instead of permanent new spending. Years of surpluses and credit upgrades followed, along with more than $11 billion in extra pension payments since 2020.
How did we lose it? The majority grew. Democrats now hold 102 of the 151 seats in the House and 25 of the 36 in the Senate. That is more than two-thirds of each chamber, enough to override any veto. It is also comfortably past the three-fifths it takes, once a governor declares an emergency or extraordinary circumstances, to break the spending cap. One party can write the budget by itself. In 2025, after Governor Lamont proposed loosening the volatility cap, the majority raised its threshold by $600 million a year, rising to $723 million by 2030. That redirects about $1.2 billion meant for pension debt in the two-year budget alone. The budget passed the House without a single Republican vote.
Killingworth has watched the same habit up close. In March, the chair of our Board of Finance, a Democrat, said, “I think the towns can afford it.” Voters rejected the school budget three times before a fourth version passed. On June 13, three days after the second rejection, the board raised our mill rate 2.25 mills without waiting for a final budget. The motion to wait failed 4 to 2. Both Republicans voted to wait. All four Democrats voted no. Our rate has gone from 24.22 to 28.47 in two years on the same assessments. Had the board waited for the final budget, which came in $1.2 million smaller, our rate would be lower today.
“Can afford it” is what a majority says when no one across the aisle has to agree. Hartford says it about the towns. Boards run by Democrats say it about us.
It all lands on the same kitchen table, with our share of the $151.9 million high school renovation still to come. Connecticut already has the third-highest effective property tax rate in the country, and the Tax Foundation ranked our property tax system 49th of 50 in its 2026 index. This year, electric rates have run more than half again the national average. This spring’s budget deal dropped the governor’s own $200 rebate and a child tax credit that more than half the majority had co-sponsored. Spend a windfall as if it will last, and towns cover the cuts that follow.
That is the case for sending fiscal conservatives to Hartford, starting with the governor. Ned Lamont has often defended the guardrails against his own caucus, and he deserves credit for that. But he signed the 2025 budget, and his party has the votes to override him. Ryan Fazio would bring balance from across the aisle. Two more Republican seats in either chamber, and the next governor’s veto stands, whoever wins.
We are the only town in both the 35th House District and the 12th Senate District. Two years ago the 35th was decided by 150 votes. In Killingworth, the margin was 10. On November 3, I am voting for Ryan Fazio for governor, Chris Aniskovich for state representative and Lisa Deane for state senator.
Eleven Republican senators can propose. Thirteen can make a veto stick. Eighteen can negotiate. We had that Hartford once. Balance built the guardrails. Send Aniskovich and Deane to keep them.
Eric Nunes, Ph.D., Killingworth
