Town aid board struggles with cuts

Journal Inquirer > Politics & Government > Town aid board struggles with cuts: "Office of Policy and Management Secretary Robert L. Genuario, Rell’s budget director and one of the few non-town leaders on the panel, said the governor isn’t seeking ideas to increase state spending amid an economic crisis. “There is a limited and narrow charge to this committee,” he said.

Vernon Mayor Jason McCoy, a Republican, offered a lengthy list of costly state mandates that could be eased on towns, ranging from mandated 10-year development and conservation plans to storm water runoff testing. He noted towns even are required to store, at municipal expense, abandoned furniture and other possessions of evicted tenants in their communities.

But mayors and first selectmen across the panel agreed they already have trimmed municipal spending to the bone — with one big unspoken exception."