Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill late this afternoon that eliminates nearly 90 percent of this fiscal year’s $371 million budget deficit.

Rell’s signature came about 30 minutes after the Senate unanimously adopted the compromise measure. The House of Representatives adopted it 147-1 on Tuesday.

federal revenue and raids on special accounts and trust funds to trim $323.2 million off the deficit for this fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

In an effort to reach compromise with the Republican governor, the Democrat-controlled legislature left earlier proposals to boost the tax on multi-million-dollar-estates and to levy a 5.5 percent tax on hospital gross revenues out of the measure.

But Democratic leaders also said this proposals likely would be revisited as they try to balance next fiscal year’s budget.

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Keith M. PhaneufState Budget Reporter

kphaneuf@ctmirror.org

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.

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