Gov. Ned Lamont delivering the state of the state address in the state Capitol in Hartford. Yehyun Kim / ctmirror.org

Connecticut cities and towns would receive about $2.85 billion in statutory formula grants in the upcoming fiscal year based on the budget adjustments proposed Wednesday by Gov. Ned Lamont.

That largely matches last fiscal year’s level, though Education Cost Sharing aid is up nearly $40 million.

Technically, communities stand to receive slightly more than $3 billion in total. But $160 million of that total doesn’t really reflect growth. It’s actually a grant designed to match the revenues communities would lose because of a Lamont plan to freeze car taxes statewide at 29 mills. 

As CT Mirror's Managing Editor Stephen helps manage and support a staff of 11 reporters.  His career in daily journalism includes 20 years at The Hartford Courant, where he served as a member of the editorial board, data editor, breaking news editor and bureau chief.  Prior to that Stephen was city editor at the Casper Star-Tribune in Casper, Wyo., and the editor of the Daily Press in Craig, Colo.  He was won many awards for editorial writing, data journalism and breaking news. While he was breaking news editor, The Courant was a named finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of the Sandy Hook shootings.  Busemeyer is a Koeppel Journalism Fellow at Wesleyan University, where he teaches data journalism, and he has also taught at the University of Hartford, the University of Connecticut and the University of Colorado.

Keith has spent most of his 31 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. He has been the state finances reporter at CT Mirror since it launched in 2010. Prior to joining CT Mirror Keith was State Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, a reporter for the Day of New London, and a former contributing writer to The New York Times. Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.