Abstract

In a demonstration of a municipal government working across the aisles locally and at the state level, the Town of Branford was the key to bringing about the state's new Municipal Climate Change and Coastal Resiliency Reserve Funds act signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in June and effective July 1, 2019. While the idea was born in Branford, the new law will benefit any town in the state with the ability to set up the fund.

As previously reported, in January 2019, based on the position that the impacts of climate change are a long-term liability, the Town of Branford set up a new Coastal Resiliency Fund, seeded with $1 million in town money. Going forward, the fund will receive a percentage of property tax annually (for 2020, the amount will be $300,000).