More than a dozen first selectmen, mayors, and town managers from Connecticut's small towns testified March 4 in support of legislation to assist towns in maintaining the Resident State Trooper program.

"For more than 60 years, the Resident State Trooper program has been a strong state-local partnership, critical to protecting public safety in our smaller communities," said Betsy Gara, executive director of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns (COST). "Unfortunately, costs for the program have gone through the roof.

"In 2011, the amount towns are required to reimburse the state for overtime costs increased from 70 percent to 100 percent. This places a considerable burden on Connecticut's small towns at a time when state aid to municipalities continues to be flat and the cost of providing critical services continues to escalate," said Gara.

"This year, the fringe benefit rate increased to a whopping 83.85 percent," said COST President and Deep River First Selectman Dick Smith. "Unfortunately, towns weren't notified about the increase until well after their local budgets had been adopted. As a result, many towns are now faced with budget shortfalls."

"The Resident State Trooper program is a valuable partnership with the state that helps smaller towns create and maintain safe communities," said Gara. "As the state considers ways of encouraging towns to form regional partnerships to deliver services more efficiently, we must recognize that the Resident State Trooper program is a regional partnership that allows the state and the towns to share responsibility for providing critical public safety services."

"If costs for the Resident State Trooper program continue to escalate and towns are forced to abandon the program, the state must shoulder 100 percent of the costs of providing public safety coverage in these areas," Smith pointed out.

"Clearly, with the help of this legislation, the Resident State Trooper program will continue to be a win-win for both the state and our local communities," said Smith.

COST is an advocacy organization committed to giving small towns a strong voice in the legislative process. Its members are Connecticut towns with populations of fewer than 30,000. COST champions the major policy needs and concerns of Connecticut's suburban and rural towns. More information is available at www.ctcost.org.