By Anne White
New Canaan and Stamford residents will get their turn this Thursday evening, July 10, when State Senator Ryan Fazio and State Representative Tom O’Dea hold a public forum in Stamford, offering a chance for voters to press them on Connecticut’s budget, housing policy, and the next steps in Hartford’s simmering zoning fight.
The event follows two high-profile—and very different—sessions in the district: a Greenwich Town Hall meeting led by Fazio last week that drew a full crowd and sometimes heated questioning, and a New Canaan Library event where Senator Ceci Maher and Representative Savet Constantine made the case for what they described as a balanced, forward-looking state budget.
Both gatherings revealed how divided opinion remains over spending caps, debt repayment, local control of housing, and the best path to affordability in Connecticut.
Fazio’s Stark Warning in Greenwich: “The Guardrails Are Broken”
At Greenwich Town Hall, Fazio faced a packed audience keenly focused on the budget deal passed this spring—and what he saw as its betrayals of the bipartisan fiscal guardrails negotiated in 2017.
Opening the night, Fazio called it “such a great honor” to represent his home district in Hartford, telling residents he wanted to give an honest, detailed view of what the session produced.
“The budget is the most important piece of legislation that passes every two years,” he said. “It’s a $57 or $58 billion piece of legislation authorizing tens of billions of dollars of taxes and spending.”
He traced the origin of the guardrails to an eight-year bipartisan effort to restrain spending to match inflation plus household income growth—saying that limit “sounds like a very modest and reasonable policy.” But he accused the new budget of blowing past those limits through accounting maneuvers and weakening the volatility cap by $600 million per year.
“It significantly lifted and changed that volatility cap to the tune of $600 million per year, meaning that we will probably be paying down $600 million less of debt every single year in the state when you have $90 billion of unfunded liabilities on the backs of taxpayers,” he warned.
Fazio called it the worst budget he’d seen in his years in Hartford, telling residents bluntly that it will trigger tax hikes down the road.
Maher and Constantine’s New Canaan Message: “A Balanced Budget with Real Investments”
Meanwhile, at the New Canaan Library forum, Maher and Constantine took a very different stance.
Maher described the final budget as delivering over $4 million in direct investment for the district and paying down state pension debt by $10 billion—while also funding vital social priorities.
She singled out the $200 million Early Childhood Endowment Fund as a signature achievement, the first of its kind in the nation.
“Parents can’t go back to work if they can’t afford childcare,” Maher said. Even if they can afford it, “if they can’t find a qualified place for their child to go,” families are left in the lurch.
The new fund aims to add 16,000 childcare spots for children from birth to age five over five years, giving more parents a path to employment and boosting early learning.
“Children benefitting from having early childhood education are able to hit the ground running,” Maher added.
Constantine, in her first term, pointed to $780 million in energy cost relief over three years through reforms of the public benefits charge and grid modernization–an initiative Gov. Lamont credited Fazio with negotiating successfully.
She called it a “great balanced budget” that invests in childcare, special education, nonprofits, and reduces pension debt by $1 billion.
Among the specifics they highlighted: $250 tax refunds through the Earned Income Tax Credit expansion for tens of thousands of working families; $80 million in additional special education savings and $75 million more in new special education funding; $76 million in nonprofit wage support; $7 million for Connecticut Foodshare and $3 million for heating assistance; Fully funded Medicaid with over $400 million in new support.
And despite the new spending, Maher and Constantine insist Connecticut still expects a $462 million surplus and continued growth of the Rainy Day Fund.
Housing Bill 5002: Fazio’s “Temporary Victory” Warning
If budget discipline was one major fault line, the fight over HB 5002—the sweeping housing bill vetoed by Governor Lamont—was the other.
Fazio didn’t mince words about why he considered the bill such a threat to local zoning control.
“The most significant affront to local control of decision making, especially planning and zoning and housing that we’ve seen in this state in a generation.”
He recounted how the bill’s threat of withholding state funding would have forced towns to up-zone around transit hubs to allow up to 10 units per lot by right.
“Anyone think parking is a really good situation in Greenwich? You can raise your hand,” he said wryly, drawing laughter from the crowd.
He described pressing the bill’s Senate champion on whether mandates would follow if towns resisted.
“She actually said, ‘I don’t know.’”
But he credited public outcry—including “people who personally texted the governor”—for securing Lamont’s veto.
“Ultimately after two weeks of all of you and people like you all over the state sending messages, emails, calls, I know people who personally texted the governor and there was a veto one day before it would’ve gone into law.”
Yet he warned the fight is far from over.
“Remember, it’s a temporary victory,” he said. “The governor and the legislative leadership promise that they would negotiate and bring us into a special session to pass something else, which in my mind will probably take away the fair share and maybe water down some of the parking requirements.”
Pressed for specifics, he predicted: “It’ll come sooner. The governor and the legislative leadership promised and has negotiated the fact that there will be a special session to pass some sort of housing legislation. My guess is my prediction… is that 70 or 80% of what was in the bill will be passed into law. Maybe the fair share part will be rolled back or taken out. It’s still going to be a bad bill.”
Residents Speak Out: Thanks—and Tough Questions
Audience members in Greenwich repeatedly thanked Fazio for fighting the housing bill, describing the difficulty of pushing back against Hartford’s majority.
“Thank you again for both of you for 5002. Appreciate it,” said one.
Another underscored the challenge: “I just really want to thank you both for fighting the fight to really protect local zoning… I know it must be really aggravating to really fight against the tide, but please continue to do that.”
One local who commutes to New York three days a week praised Fazio’s bill targeting double-taxation of remote workers: “Hearing this news about the tax bill is just, I mean music to my ears… I know it’s tough to get the positive press for all the work you’re doing.”
A Chance to Press Them Directly in Stamford
Thursday’s Stamford meeting is being billed as an opportunity for voters to hear all of this firsthand—and to press Fazio and O’Dea on where they see the next fights in Hartford going.
Will fiscal guardrails be restored? What will the next version of the housing bill look like? What reforms are possible on local control, special education costs, or energy pricing?
As Fazio told the Greenwich audience, public engagement matters: “Don’t give up. Don’t stop speaking out. Don’t stop advocating for what is right.”
Residents will have that chance again Thursday in Stamford, with the next round of Connecticut’s biggest debates on the table.
