OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-428
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES RELATING TO
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION.
Primary Analyst: EMG 4/12/22
Contributing Analyst(s): CP
Reviewer: MM
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 23 $ FY 24 $
Treasurer, Debt Serv. GF - Potential
Cost
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 23 $ FY 24 $
Various Municipalities Potential
Cost/Revenue
See Below See Below
Explanation
The bill, which establishes a reimbursement program for school
HVAC system installation, repair, and upgrades, and makes multiple
changes to eligible costs under the school construction reimbursement
program and is expected to have several fiscal impacts, as described
below.
Section 1 of the bill establishes a reimbursement program,
administered by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), for
local and regional school HVAC system installation, repair, and
upgrades that is similar to, though separate from, the school
construction reimbursement program established in CGS 10-283. State
reimbursement levels are set annually based on municipal wealth and
population information from 20 to 80 percent of project costs, with
possible increases of up to ten percentage points for projects and 2022SB-00428-R000449-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
recipients meeting certain criteria.
The bill does not provide a funding source or amount for the
discretionary grant program. To the extent that funds are made
available for the program, there would be a potential cost to the state
and a potential revenue gain and potential cost to grant recipients. sSB
12, the revised FY 23 bond bill, as favorably reported by the Finance,
Revenue and Bonding Committee, authorized $100 million for this
purpose.
The program is expected to be administered by DAS within existing
resources, resulting in no new fiscal impact to the agency.
Sections 2, 4, 5, and 8 of the bill make various changes to school
construction projects process and cost eligibility, including allowing a
larger space standard for school buildings built between 1950-1959,
moving projects for school administration buildings from the list of
allowable non-priority list reimbursements to needing legislative
approval through the priority list process, automatically moving
projects through the process when a certificate of occupancy has been
granted, and removing a requirement for newspaper notice for
construction contracts. To the extent these changes alter the total cost of
future projects, the altered cost would be shared between municipalities
and the state at the appropriate reimbursement ratio.
School construction grants are financed through the issuance of
General Obligation (GO) bonds in future fiscal years. The bill does not
authorize new GO bonds. The bill may result in future General Fund
debt service costs to be altered to the degree that it causes authorized
GO bond funds to be expended at a different rate than they otherwise
would have been.
Section 3 requires DAS to report on all non-priority list grants
approved on an annual basis and has no fiscal impact.
The remaining sections, along with conforming changes in
previously discussed sections, shift specified responsibilities to the 2022SB-00428-R000449-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
School Building Projects Advisory Council from the School Safety
Infrastructure Council, eliminating the latter, which is not expected to
have a fiscal impact.
The Out Years
The ongoing fiscal impact of school HVAC projects and school
construction project reimbursements identified above will continue into
the future subject to project completion, successful municipal
application for reimbursement, and the costs of borrowing.