The day after calling for bipartisan legislative talks about state budget problems, Governor Dannel Malloy spoke at the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities convention this morning.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton says municipal leaders should be at the table. He says the legislature and Governor need to think about police, fire and educational services that need to be delivered. In the past, when municipal leaders are not there Boughton says they've found that state will go down a path that doesn't take into account the important services that municipalities need to deliver.
Malloy says only legislative leaders are invited to the budget talks because it's a legislative issue. He also cited the size of the table not being able to accommodate the views of each 169 municipalities individually. But Malloy says he's open to talking to CCM on an ongoing basis.
Malloy says he doesn't favor cuts to cities and towns to solve the budget issues. Boughton says the CEOs should be part of the discussion to hold Malloy to that.
CCM executive Director Joe DeLong says they don't want to tell legislators how to do their job, but how their decisions will trickle down to the local level.
