New London - As a new legislative session begins and the General Assembly gets to work, the Connecticut Council of Municipalities has issued its wish list of legislative actions that it says would address the "urgent needs" of urban centers like New London.

New London and the 24 other communities determined by the state Department of Economic and Community Development to be "distressed municipalities" each deal with a different set of circumstances, but bear a disproportionate burden of providing social services for some of the state's neediest residents, CCM says.

"Many face public service costs that tend to be higher than most other places in Connecticut. They also have limited capacity to raise revenue to fund those costs," the association wrote in a December 2014 report. "The result is that they get squeezed from both ends of the financial equation."

The state's list of distressed municipalities includes New London, Montville and Preston.

The group's proposals take a three-pronged approach, focusing on property tax relief, education finance reform and infrastructure investment.

CCM's action plan calls for the state to at least maintain the current level of municipal aid to cities and towns, provide funding for cities to hire and retain police officers, support funding for programs that help reduce youth violence, boost funding to the state Educational Cost Sharing grant, and create a lockbox to ensure that revenues and funding designated for transportation and infrastructure improvements are used only for that purpose.

Perhaps most significant for New London, CCM also calls for the state to increase funding to fully reimburse municipalities for property tax exemptions mandated by the state, like the payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) programs for colleges, hospitals and nonprofit organizations.

"PILOT reform is essential for the city of New London to be able to alleviate some of that tax burden that is borne by our taxpayers," Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio said. "As a municipality with 46 percent of our property off the tax rolls and being funded currently, I believe, at only 32 percent of where we could be funded through PILOT, getting an increase in PILOT is essential to our long-term financial health."

CCM's legislative agenda comes about a week before Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to present his biennial budget plan and as the state government faces a budget deficit of $182.3 million, as estimated by the legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.

"Connecticut's distressed communities empathize with the state's fiscal condition - indeed, these communities have laid off employees, consolidated and reduced programs, and grudgingly increased property taxes to continue essential services," CCM President Matthew Galligan said in a statement. "However, even as the state makes difficult budget decisions during these tough times, the needs of our poorest towns and cities cannot be postponed. All of Connecticut has a stake in the viability of our distressed communities."

About 31 percent of the state's residents live in one of the 25 distressed municipalities, and despite Connecticut having the highest per capita income in the country, the distressed municipality with the highest per capita income - Preston - is still more than $4,000 below the state average, according to CCM.

A May 2014 study by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness found that roughly 55 percent of the state's homeless population can be found in just six of the distressed municipalities - Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, New Britain, Waterbury and Bristol.

"There must be a greater, concerted distressed communities agenda now from the state," said Ron Thomas, CCM director of public policy and advocacy. "To make these communities more viable, the state must continue to make even greater investments in these communities - investments that yield considerable dividends for stabilizing property taxes, attracting and retaining business, educating our children, ensuring public safety, reducing recidivism and realizing human potential."

c.young@theday.com

Twitter: @ColinAYoung