This property, located at 34 Lafayette Street in Willimantic, has been leased for more than five decades and is home to the only firefighter training facility east of the Connecticut River. The owner of the property recently passed away creating concern the property would be sold and the training facility forced out.

“I’m thrilled we are able to acquire this land and preserve the firefighter training facility that is so necessary to the region,’ said Coutu.

“One of the core functions of government is to provide public safety- if we lose this facility we lose the only Firefighter training center in eastern Connecticut. That just isn’t an option.”

Coutu, a volunteer firefighter in Norwich, said today was a culmination of bi-partisan letters and conversations he had with the Governor’s office to voice his support of this project.

Representatives from the Department of Labor and the Eastern CT Workforce Investment Board will be on hand to assist job seekers, give guidance and answer questions audience members may have.

 He also went to Taftville Lions night of giving, which handed out 14,000 to a dozen local non-profit organizations. Funds are generated from monthly pasta dinners at the Knights of Columbus. “These dinners bring together the community to raise funds for important causes.” Chris has been a proud Lion for two years.

His proposal, offered as an amendment, would create a tax credit for corporate donations to scholarships for low to middle income families. This would encourage individuals and businesses to support local nonpublic academic institutions.

The idea stems from the fact that many nonpublic schools in Connecticut are struggling to remain open in the poor economy. Recently, six large non-public schools including the Norwich Diocese’s St. Joseph’s announced in Norwich will close its doors in June. Over the past 10 years, over 20 schools have closed and thirty thousand less students are in the non-public school system.

“It’s a shame that because of the current economic situation, students and parents in Connecticut are seeing options and opportunities become limited,” Coutu said. “It is unfortunate that elected officials in Hartford do not recognize that a small portion of funds from their mailing privilege could help educate 67,000 students. Makes me question their priorities and commitment to real educational reform…”

Coutu says the proposal, if passed into law, would be a small step in helping an education system that saves the state, taxpayers and municipalities $700 million a year by keeping these students from moving into municipal schools.

“We are aware that currently it is proposed that up to 2000 teachers may be let go. If these schools continue to close we will see an influx of students into the public school system, the burden would be great and we would all feel that burden with increase in number of students per classrooms and taxes,” Coutu added.

While the amendment failed in the waning hours of the legislative session, Coutu convinced an impressive bipartisan coalition of 12 Mayors and close to 50 Representative and Senators from across the state to sign on to the proposal.

“This problem isn’t going away, so I am not going to give up on it. I just have to work extra hard to change the business as usual culture in Hartford,” quipped Coutu. “The future of our kids and educational system depends on it.”

HARTFORD – On the last day Connecticut residents have to mail in their tax bills, House Republicans unveiled their 2011 budget that erases the $736 million deficit for 2011 without raising taxes; instead, consolidating government agencies, shrinking the public workforce and rolling back spending to 2009 levels.

The balanced plan preserves municipal and school aid, and sets aside $74.5 million to encourage job growth. Companies that hire the unemployed can earn $17.5 million in tax credits, and the plan establishes a $25 million small business revolving loan fund, and eliminates the Business Entity Tax.

“What we’ve offered today is a difficult solution to a difficult problem- but there aren’t any easy solutions left, and the longer we wait, the fewer options there will be. Quite frankly, Connecticut citizens can’t afford to pay for this bloated government any longer- we need to cut spending and encourage job growth,” Representative Christopher Coutu (R- Norwich) said.

“This budget is a common sense approach to fixing our massive budget deficit,” said Coutu. “We can realize saving by cutting back on legislative mailings or consolidating state agencies- these seem obvious to the citizens of Connecticut, so why aren’t we doing them?”

The hallmarks of the savings:

• $58 million in line item cuts to 2009 levels;
• $64 million in early retirement for state workers;
• $10 million in state agency consolidations;
• $6.4 million to shed state office leases; 
• $20 million in privatization of state functions;
• $150 million in state worker concessions, including wage freezes, furlough days and health care;
• $3.8 million in legislative pay cuts, elimination of franked mail and travel.

The budget also makes significant investments in job creation and retirement security:

• $200 million in previously cancelled contributions to state employee pensions;
• Elimination of the Business Entity Tax to save companies $32 million;
• Creation of the Small Business Revolving Loan Fund of $25 million;
• Jobs Creation Tax Credit of $3.5 million. 

Republicans outlined a variety of small and large potential savings in the state work force. For example, if all state workers agree to freeze wages for one year it would save $183 million; one furlough day results in a $9 million savings.

“Connecticut has lost over 100,000 jobs during this recession and that number will only continue to grow if we increase the tax burden on our businesses,” Rep. Coutu said. “That’s why we are investing in our businesses and job growth. The economy can’t recover if we don’t get Connecticut back to work.

Coutu and his Republican Colleagues called upon Democrats to take action immediately and work in a bi-partisan manner and work toward a reasonable solution.

The deficit mitigation plan, which passed the House today, does not include any tax hikes or cuts to municipal aid that Republicans have consistently opposed and eliminates only the current $350 million budget gap. The $725 million deficit which kicks in on July 1^st was not reduced at all.

“Republicans have been promoting cuts and government efficiencies for a long time,” said Coutu. “It’s good that the Democrats finally came around but we would be naïve to think this is a long-term solution. Next year we have a $725 million deficit and over the next three years we could be looking at close to a $7 billion deficit- so today was a relatively small step.”  

Coutu added that the Republicans will remain opposed to tax increases and cuts in aid to municipalities that will undoubtedly result in increased property taxes.

“This fight is far from over. Last year the Democrats raised taxes by $1.2 billion, securitized $1.4 billion and bonded $1 billion, earlier this month they proposed even more taxes and more spending. With unemployment over 9% we can hardly sustain this attitude any longer,” Coutu said. “The citizens will have to keep the pressure on the majority to continue looking for cuts and efficiencies while staying away from any more taxes.”

The plan passed the House with a near unanimous vote and will likely face the Senate later this week.

Hartford- State Representative Christopher Coutu, who has served as a Volunteer Firefighter, was involved with flood operations within the City of Norwich.

Norwich and the region received more then 7″ of rain and most rivers were flooding at record levels. Chris spent a few hours with Emergency Management and helped close roads and move sand bags. He was proud to visit the “Blue Crew” which consists of volunteers from Dime Bank. Emergency Management, volunteers and these volunteers bagged thousands of sand bags. Throughout the day Chris visited Nutmeg LLC, which built their own 10′ wall to protect their property. He also attended a city wide leadership meeting with LT Governor Fedele and visited the 192nd and 248th Armory.

As a platoon leader, “I appreciated these citizen warriors showing up to help save lives and property on a moments notice. As bad as the storm was, the volunteers, fire fighters, emergency managment, military and state agencies made sure lives and property were saved,” said Coutu.