Implications of grim state revenue and budget projections and the potential for cuts in state aid to cities and towns has focused the attention of lawmakers on the need for property tax relief, reducing government costs through regional collaborative ventures and improving economic competitiveness.

Although there are welcome signs of recovery on the horizon, state revenue streams, drastically reduced from the unanticipated collapse of financial markets and global economic disaster, typically lag the general economy. They will likely remain weak through fiscal year 2014 at least. Aggravating matters will be the absence of the federal stimulus dollars and other short-term infusions used to close state budget gaps in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 fiscal years.

Unless Connecticut reduces the cost of government overall, the gap between state revenues and expenditures will continue to grow, even when the state emerges from the recession.

Likely reductions in state aid to local governments - combined with pressure on municipalities and, in particular, school districts, to maintain the level and quality of public services - raise the question of how towns and cities will respond without increasing property taxes.

In a major effort to find new ways to meet public needs more imaginatively and productively, reduce property tax burdens, and put the state on a sounder fiscal footing for the long term, House Speaker Christopher Donovan established the Blue Ribbon Commission on Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (MORE) earlier this year.

Commission recommendations for legislative action this past session were a forward step in the development of pragmatic solutions to promote overall government efficiency. These include multi-town collaborations to perform some public functions across municipal jurisdictions at lowered cost.

The overriding goal is to place the state on a more competitive economic footing within a fiercely contested global economy.

Proactive proposals to generate results

MORE Commission initiatives for the just-completed session included a set of proposals that focus on actual results, working through existing governmental institutions that respect home rule and local needs. The General Assembly passed measures to:

• Allow towns and their school boards to buy prescription drugs through the state employee plan and to pool their employee health insurance plans with other towns, reducing costs through economices of scale.

• Encourage towns to collaborate on school bus contracts. As an incentive, the state will distribute one half of the money it saves on lowered reimbursements to towns that achieve cost savings through shared transportation agreements.

• Relieve municipalities from the mandate of online posting of public agency meeting minutes and from the recovery and storage requirement of evicted tenants' possessions.

• Enhance the tax base of towns and cities by adding new wireless telecommunications as tangible personal property to municipal grand lists and establishing a floor on depreciation for assessment purposes to reflect the economic value of telecoms' property that has been fully depreciated, but which remains in use.

Idea gets House backing

Another bill to increase the state hotel occupancy tax by 3 percent and pass through the new revenues to towns and regions passed in the House, but failed to win Senate support. One-third of the increase would go to the towns in which the hotels are located, for a smaller reliance on property taxes. Two-thirds would be distributed to regions on a per capita basis for property tax relief and to promote regional cost-saving initiatives, including economic development and education cooperative programs.

In the coming months, we will continue to develop additional recommendations for the General Assembly's 2011 legislative session to further promote money-saving, tax-reducing efficiencies for Connecticut's towns and cities through cooperative and collaborative efforts.

The House Speaker's Blue Ribbon Commission on Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (MORE) is comprised of Democratic legislators and municipal, regional, education, business, union and nonprofit representatives.

State Rep. Elissa Wright, D-Groton, co-chairs the Subcommittee on Revenue Streams and Economic Development. She is vice chairwoman of the Banks Committee, and serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.