Valerie Burns

As a resident of New London who owns two properties near Pleasant Lake and who is a member of the Pleasant Lake Protective Association as well as editor of the PLPA's community newsletter, I am making my voice heard in opposition to HB-1649. As written, HB 1649 could jeopardize critical funding that supports local lake management, restoration, and protection programs. Local lake associations such as the Pleasant Lake Protective Association are nonprofit organizations, and many rely on essential municipal appropriations approved through warrant articles or budget lines to carry out lake protection and management work that benefits the entire community. Just last night, in fact, I attended and spoke at the New London Budget Committee meeting in support of the town's continuing funding of Lake Host programs in our community. This financial support helps fund on-the-ground efforts such as water quality monitoring, lake restoration projects, and aquatic invasive species prevention, monitoring, and management—services that most municipalities lack the staff capacity or technical expertise to provide. Because this work is often volunteer-driven, as is the case with Pleasant Lake, and doesn’t always fit neatly into traditional procurement and bidding models, eliminating this funding pathway could force lake associations to scale back or even discontinue lake protection and management programs that communities depend on. We are in a critical, even dire, period of time, facing extraordinary stress on our environment and the capricious withdrawal of crucial financial support for research, programs, and ongoing efforts to save our precious natural resources from the consequences of selfish and profit-driven human activity. HB 1649 needs a workable path for mission-aligned nonprofit partnerships that provide a clear public benefit. We urge the committee to amend the bill to allow municipalities to appropriate funds to nonprofits, such as our lake associations, through a warrant article or budget item when the public purpose is clearly stated, and basic accountability is required, including a written agreement, record-keeping, and a public accounting of how funds were spent.