OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-11
AN ACT CONCERNING CONNECTICUT RESILIENCY PLANNING
AND PROVIDING MUNICIPAL OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE
RESILIENCE.
AMENDMENT
LCO No.: 4799
File Copy No.: 198
Senate Calendar No.: 134
Primary Analyst: JP 5/2/24
Contributing Analyst(s): LG, EMG, WL, TM, MP, RP, CR, JS (FN)
Reviewer: RW
OFA Fiscal Note
See Fiscal Note Details
The amendment strikes the underlying bill and its associated fiscal
impact.
Sections 1-10 establish and outline the powers of resiliency
improvement districts that are similar to increment financing districts.
The sections permit municipalities to establish these resiliency
improvement districts and provide guidelines for how they can be used.
The impact of these sections is dependent on how municipalities use the
districts.
The sections require municipalities that establish a resiliency
improvement district to first develop a district master plan and financial
plan. This results in a potential cost to municipalities to develop these
plans. There is an additional, minimal cost to municipalities that choose
to establish these districts associated with holding a public hearing. A
municipality may also incur costs by issuing bonds for various
economic development projects.
The sections also allow municipalities to fix the assessment of certain
properties within a resiliency improvement district. This would
preclude any grand list growth resulting from an increase in the 2024SB-00011-R00LCO04799-FNA.DOCX Page 2 of 4
assessment of the property.
Municipalities may also impose benefits assessments on real
property in the district that benefits from public improvements. This
may result in a potential revenue gain to municipalities that is
dependent on what the change in assessed value is as a result of the
improvements.
The sections require municipalities to: (1) replace any affordable
housing units within the district that are demolished or reduced as a
result of a resiliency improvement project, or (2) replace two units for
each affordable unit that was demolished or reduced if they have to be
relocated outside of the district boundary. This results in a potential cost
to municipalities to the extent that affordable housing units are
demolished.
Sections 11 and 12 make changes to the requirements that must be
included in municipalities' Plans of Conservation and Development
(POCDs), including a climate change vulnerability assessment and use
of geospatial (GIS) data, among others. These sections require any
POCDs adopted after October 1, 2026, to i nclude these new
requirements.
1
Beginning in FY 26, this may result in costs of up to $20,000 for
various municipalities to include the new requirements in their POCDs.
Costs to municipalities will depend on what is needed to meet these
requirements and may include technology, programs for GIS data, or
consultants. These provisions may also result in a revenue loss to
various municipalities to the extent they are unable to adopt the POCDs
with the new requirements. Failure to do so, consistent with current law,
results in a municipality becoming ineligible for discretionary state
1
Under current law, municipalities are required to update their plan of conservation
and development at least once every ten years. 2024SB-00011-R00LCO04799-FNA.DOCX Page 3 of 4
funding.
2
Section 14 expands allowable uses of municipal reserve funds. This
may result in a municipality using its reserve funds more quickly
beginning in FY 25.
Section 15 expands allowable uses of Town Aid Road (TAR) grants
to include building, improving, and maintaining resiliency for roads,
bridges, and related structures that may be impacted by increased
precipitation, flooding, sea level rise, and extreme heat. This may result
in a municipality using its TAR grant more quickly beginning in FY 25.
Section 16 requires each municipality to submit a geospatial data file
of the culverts and bridges within the control of the municipality and
outlines what must be included in the file, including geospatial data and
any other information required by the Office of Policy and Management
(OPM). This may result in a cost to various municipalities, likely
beginning in FY 26, that is dependent on what information must be
included in the report.
The section also requires each regional council of government (COG)
to submit a similar geospatial data file to OPM which may also result in
a potential cost to the COG.
Sections 18, 20, and 32 permit and outline the requirements for
municipal zoning regulations to allow for a regional transfer of
development rights system. Any fiscal impact is dependent on how land
is used as a result.
Sections 24-28 make various changes to bond-funded programs,
including the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program
(OSWA) administered by DEEP.
3
Future General Fund debt service
costs may be incurred sooner under the bill to the degree that it causes
2
Discretionary state funding includes, but is not limited to, any source of funding that
a state agency administers through a competitive process. This may include the Urban
Action Program and Small Town Assistance Program.
3
No change is anticipated to the portion of OSWA that is funded through the
Community Investment Account. 2024SB-00011-R00LCO04799-FNA.DOCX Page 4 of 4
authorized GO bond funds to be expended or to be expended more
rapidly than they otherwise would have been. The bill does not change
GO bond authorizations relevant to the program.
These sections result in a potential revenue gain to various
municipalities beginning in FY 25 to the extent they qualify for the grant
under the expanded eligibility.
Section 31 authorizes the Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection (DEEP) to acquire up to 25.7 acres of property for the
Resilient Bridgeport flood control project and to ensure relocations of
utilities as needed. The section reduces the state share of utilities
relocations by up to 50 percent, which may result in a one-time state
savings of up to approximately $1.5 million when the project occurs in
the next several years. The property acquisitions are expected to have a
cost within the next few years; however, it is anticipated that both the
state share of the utilities relocations and the acquisitions will be paid
with federal funds.
The section also allows relocation of some utilities including electric
and results in a potential cost. The amendment as written places the cost
associated partially on the state. The extent of the impact will depend
on the number of utilities required to be relocated, the total cost for that
relocation, and the amount paid by the state.
The amendment includes various other requirements that do not
result in a fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely
for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General
Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of
informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.