Sec. 16a-44b. Grants to municipalities to assist in addressing problems caused by fuel shortages and increased energy costs. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 16a-44b. Grants to municipalities to assist in addressing problems caused by fuel shortages and increased energy costs. (a) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1980, each town shall be entitled to receive from the state a grant to assist it in addressing problems caused by fuel shortages and increased energy costs. Such grants may only be used for programs designed to avoid housing abandonments and implement capital improvement energy conservation projects. Such grants shall not be used for current expenses, except that an amount not to exceed ten per cent of the grant to such town may be used for the administration of programs funded through sections 16a-44b to 16a-44d, inclusive. The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall calculate the amount due each town from funds made available for the purposes of said sections in accordance with the allocation formula provided in subsection (b) of this section, and shall certify to the Comptroller the amount due, provided no payment shall be made to a town until the secretary has certified that the municipality has filed a local winter energy plan for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1980, with the Office of Policy and Management, which complies with the purposes of sections 16a-44b to 16a-44d, inclusive, and has held a public hearing on it. Such plan shall: (1) Describe the particular problems of such town caused by fuel shortages and increased energy costs; (2) detail how the town believes such problems should be addressed by the town; (3) detail how it plans to use the grant provided for in this section and (4) provide for outreach to persons sixty-two years of age or over and persons physically disabled as defined in section 1-1f. Any two or more towns may form a municipal district, as provided in section 7-330, to carry out the purposes of sections 16a-44b to 16a-44d, inclusive. The formation of such a district shall in no way affect the amount of the grant to which each town shall be entitled, nor shall it exempt any town from the requirement of holding a public hearing within such town.

      (b) Funds allocated for the purposes of sections 16a-44b to 16a-44d, inclusive, shall be distributed among the towns in the following manner: (1) Ten per cent of the amount shall be distributed pro rata on the basis of the ratio of the total population of each town to the total population of the state. (2) Fifty per cent of the amount shall be divided among those towns whose adjusted equalized net grand list per capita falls below that of the town at the seventy-fifth percentile among all towns in the state, as determined by ranking in ascending order of all towns in the state according to their adjusted equalized net grand list per capita. The distribution shall be made to each town pro rata on the basis of the following ratio: The difference between the adjusted equalized net grand list per capita for the town at the seventy-fifth percentile and that of such town multiplied by the population of such town shall be the numerator of the fraction. For each town whose adjusted equalized net grand list per capita falls below that of the town at the seventy-fifth percentile, the resulting products of all such towns shall be added together and the sum shall be the denominator of the fraction. (3) Twenty per cent of the amount shall be distributed pro rata on the basis of the ratio of the average number of monthly paid maintenance cases for such town to the average number of monthly paid maintenance cases in the state. (4) Twenty per cent of the amount shall be distributed pro rata on the basis of the ratio of the number of elderly persons in such town receiving assistance under section 12-129b and chapter 204a to the number of elderly persons in the state receiving such assistance. For the purposes of this section, "adjusted equalized net grand list per capita" and "total population" shall be defined as in section 10-261, and "average number of monthly paid maintenance cases" means the monthly number of recipients of temporary family assistance, state-administered general assistance, and assistance to the aged, the blind and the totally disabled, averaged over the most recent fiscal year for which information is available.

      (c) Moneys received by a town pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be deposited by such town in a separate fund and shall not be commingled with the general fund of such town.

      (P.A. 89-331, S. 26, 30; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-2, S. 18, 165; P.A. 04-76, S. 5.)

      History: June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-2 amended Subsec. (b) to replace a reference to "aid to families with dependent children, aid to families with dependent children-unemployed fathers" with "temporary family assistance", effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 04-76 amended Subsec. (b) by adding reference to "state-administered general assistance" and deleting reference to "Connecticut assistance and medical aid program for the disabled and general assistance".