Montville, Ledyard and New London are in line for additional state funds due to the former two towns' tribal properties and the latter city's State Pier.

Due to legislation passed this past session that increases reimbursement rates for tribal property and for State Pier; Montville is getting an estimated $903,323, Ledyard will get $630,239 and New London will receive $274,282 through the state's payment in lieu of taxes program. PILOT funds are state reimbursements to municipalities for tax-exempt properties.

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, who co-chairs the Appropriations Committee, and other members of the southeastern Connecticut delegation ensured that the reimbursement rates for the pier and federally recognized tribal properties would go up.

"In the statute it had been at 45%, and I changed that to 100%, so that the municipalities with federally recognized tribal lands would see an increase from 45% of the assessed value of the land — not of the buildings on the land but of the land — go to 100%," Osten said. "When we were working on the State Pier bill in transportation, I put a component in that bill to make sure the city was getting PILOT payments, number one, and that number two, New London would get the payments at 100%."

The exact dollar amounts for the increased reimbursement rate funds for the three towns became available on Monday.

"The municipalities get their PILOT funding and their first section of school funding right around this time of year even though the budget passes in June" said state Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton. "This is in addition to what towns already received in PILOT funding that come from changes in the PILOT program. We put the words in the budget and this is where the words turn into cash.

On Monday, state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, said the $275,000 his city will get for the State Pier property "is something to really, I think, celebrate."

"Of course people are going to say, 'Why couldn't we get more?' But, you know, it's a start, until we can figure out where to go from here," he added.

New London Mayor Michael Passero said, "I have to pinch myself."

"It really corrects a historic injustice. I'm glad they finally realized the equity in this, and we sure are thankful for the extra revenue," Passero said Friday. He recalled when he was first elected going to the legislature with then-state Rep. Chris Soto, "and it was a bit naive of us, but PILOT reform was a big piece of what I've been fighting for from the beginning."

At first, Passero and other stakeholders advocated simply for a moratorium on granting tax exemptions.

"Every session they'd come up with more and more exempt taxes," he said. "They'd just grant them to the point where the cities are dying because half of our properties have been made exempt and we don't get any reimbursement for that."

Now, with 100% PILOT reimbursement, he said, the state "can essentially say to the other taxpayers that they're carrying their weight, too."

Passero said the city will determine what to spend the money on. Montville Mayor Ron McDaniel, D-Montville, and Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn III, did not respond to requests for comment.

In all, Lyme, East Lyme, Old Lyme, New London, Norwich, Ledyard, Groton, Waterford, Montville, Stonington and North Stonington are set to receive more than about $320 million during the next two years through PILOT funding, annual revenue from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, Education Cost Sharing and adult education grants.

New London, Norwich and Groton are the largest beneficiaries.

New London will receive almost $15 million in PILOT funding, as well as about $60 million in ECS funding over two years. In addition, the city will be getting more than $1 million from the tribes, from the municipal stabilization grant and for adult education.

Groton can expect to see more than $3 million in PILOT funding in 2022 and 2023, as well as more than $50 million in ECS funding. Groton also should see more than $2 million from the tribes over two years, almost $1 million from the municipal stabilization grant and more than $200,000 for adult education.

Norwich should see almost $6 million in PILOT funding over two years, as well as more than $80 million in ECS funding. The city is slated to see almost $5 million from the tribes, almost $700,000 for adult education and more than $400,000 from the municipal stabilization grant.

For total funding from the biennial budget, East Lyme could get almost $16 million, North Stonington almost $7 million, Old Lyme about $1 million, Waterford about $1.3 million, Stonington about $2.7 million, Ledyard almost $27 million, Lyme almost $250,000 and Montville almost $32 million. Most of the money will be in the form of funding for education.

s.spinella@theday.com