Perillo Honored for “Courageous” Stand on Key Issues

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Thursday presented state Representative Jason Perillo with its Roger Sherman award for his work on behalf of Connecticut’s cities and towns.

“On one of the key issues of the 2008 legislative session, Jason took a courageous stand, and our Board of Directors wanted to show its respect for his act,” said CCM Director of Public Policy and Advocacy Gian-Carl Casa. “Jason was the only Republican in either legislative chamber to vote for the bill. He stood up and took a bipartisan stand on an issue that was important to Connecticut municipalities.”

The bill supported by CCM enabled cities and towns to continue collecting the municipal portion of the state conveyance tax for an additional two years. If the measure had not passed many cash-strapped municipalities would have been forced to increase property taxes.

The award was presented to Representative Perillo, R-Shelton, in a ceremony at his State Capitol office Thursday, January 22^nd.  In accepting the award, Perillo said, “A former Congressman and Mayor of New Haven, Roger Sherman was known as one of the brilliant minds of his time.  He understood the value of service and of compromise and it is an honor to be presented with this award in Sherman’s honor.”

During the 2008 legislative session, Representative Perillo was a driving force behind House Bill 5646, An Act Concerning Volunteer Service by Paid Emergency Personnel or Paid Firefighters, which prohibits municipalities from banning their paid firefighter personnel from serving as volunteer firefighters in another municipality. Governor Rell signed the bill into law June 5, 2008.

Perillo cited that bill as a tremendous bipartisan success for suburban towns throughout the state.  “We had a great coalition of Republicans and Democrats supporting the bill and that’s what made the difference in its passage.”

Representative Perillo also has consistently supported measures to prohibit the state from imposing unfunded mandates on Connecticut communities. Unfunded mandates require towns and cities to offer certain programs and services, but include no funding from the state to lower the cost to municipalities of providing those services.  “Unfunded mandates have driven local property taxes through the roof and the legislature needs to weigh the benefits of these mandates against the costs to towns of implementing them,” he said.

The Roger Sherman Award, which was presented by Casa and Ron Thomas, CCM’s Manager of State and Federal Relations, reads: “For extraordinary efforts on behalf of towns and cities in the 2008 General Assembly session.”

Representative Perillo, who also serves as an alderman from Shelton’s 2^nd Ward, has been a volunteer with Shelton’s Echo Hose Ambulance since 1999. He also volunteered for three years as co-chairman of the Shelton Relay for Life, an overnight event that encourages teams of volunteers to raise money for cancer research.