The Mirror’s budget tracking tool is designed to show how the governor and legislators built a spending and tax plan for the upcoming two fiscal years, while dealing with projected deficits of more than $1 billion. There were proposals to cut in programs in health care, social services, municipal aid, public safety, arts and culture, job training programs, libraries and prisons — and to raise income, corporation and other taxes.
The budget-writing process
The state budget comes together through a three-step process: The governor proposes a budget, legislators issue their own plan, and then the administration and legislators negotiate a final deal.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed his budget in February, aiming to close a projected deficit of $1.3 billion through both spending cuts and tax increases. Republicans — who hold the minority in both chambers of the General Assembly — issued their own proposal April 24. The Appropriations Committee — which is controlled by Democrats — released its spending plan three days later.
And members of the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee — also controlled by Democrats — released their revenue proposal April 29.
The House and Senate approved the budget June 3, but made adjustments to it during a June 29 special session. Malloy signed the budget and adjustments June 30.
How to use this tool
Below, you’ll find a list of the significant proposed cuts and tax increases in each proposal and the cuts and tax hikes that made it into the final budget. You can click on specific items to see details, and compare how each item would fare under each proposal and in the final budget.
We’re still gathering information on funding levels for some items in the final budget, so you’ll see some blank spaces. We’ll fill those in as soon as we can.
The big picture
The third tab in the chart shows you some key details: The size of the total budget and any fine print. For example, Malloy’s proposal exceeded the state’s spending cap, while the GOP proposal relied on significant labor savings that could require getting state employee unions to agree to concessions or making large numbers of layoffs.
The Appropriations Committee’s proposal, meanwhile, came in $514 million higher than the governor’s plan and relied on a radical new interpretation of the state’s spending cap. The legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee’s plan called for $1.8 billion in additional taxes over the next two years.
And the final budget raises revenues by nearly $1.8 billion over two years.