January 14, 2010

REPS. GENGA, LARSON AND ROJAS URGE RELL TO RELEASE
MONEY EAST HARTFORD IS COUNTING ON FOR ROADS

Democratic Representatives Henry Genga, Timothy Larson and Jason Rojas, all of East Hartford, today urged Gov. M. Jodi Rell to release millions in state aid that would fund paving projects and road repairs across the state including projects in East Hartford.

"This is money that the governor had already agreed to spend," Rep. Genga said. "The only right thing to do is to release it."

Based on the commitment made by the governor and legislature, the town has gone ahead with plans for road repairs. "The town is depending on this money," Rep. Genga said.

Because of the current budget deficit, the governor proposed borrowing to cover road repair funds instead of the traditional method of issuing grants as part of the state operating budget. To date, Rell has held back $30 million in Town Aid Road (TAR) from consideration by the State Bond Commission despite committing to the funding last year. Last year, East Hartford received $289,619 in TAR funding.

"I would strongly encourage the governor to move ahead with this money, which will allow towns to move forward with repair projects that are critical to infrastructure requirements and maintenance," Rep. Larson said.

"The governor needs to release this bond money as soon as possible," said Rep. Rojas. "Towns have been counting on these dollars to be there. If we weren't going to release the money then we should not have made the commitment," Rojas said.