Municipal leaders rarely miss a chance these days to thank the governor and the legislature for sparing the entire $2.8 billion town aid package from the budget axe last spring. But in between accolades, town leaders also will point out that, with few exceptions, education aid has been flat for the past three years, and […]

Federal environmental officials have warned Connecticut they will begin to de-certify a crucial pollution abatement program the day after the General Assembly session ends in  May — unless state policy-makers craft a solution first. At issue is a more than $80 million backlog in applications for assistance through Connecticut’s Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Cleanup Program […]

As tax season arrives, advocates for the Connecticut’s new income tax credit for working poor families are trying to keep commercial tax preparers — and revenue-hungry state officials — from getting their hands on it. The Connecticut Association for Human Services, one of the private, nonprofit community’s leading anti-poverty organizations, is coordinating an outreach campaign […]

The legislature’s top watchdog office is seeking access to confidential state tax information to assist in processing whistleblower complaints filed by state employees. Auditors John G. Geragosian and Robert M. Ward also used their first annual report to lawmakers on Tuesday to recommend overhauling how agencies report lost funds, tightening competitive bidding rules and closing […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy secured Connecticut’s investment in a major genetic research initiative Monday — but not before one more partisan debate. The State Bond Commission voted 8-2 to release $291 million, which will pay to build a new 173,000-square-foot research center for The Jackson Laboratory on the University of Connecticut Health Center campus in […]

The retiring chief of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling used one of his final appearances before the legislature to press Monday for several new safeguards to accompany any new online gaming program. Executive Director Marvin Steinberg and his successor, Mary A. Drexler, also praised Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for recommending that a portion of […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced plans Friday for a second round of agency consolidations, including combining oversight for the University of Connecticut, its health center and the chief medical examiner’s office. Malloy, who discussed the proposed changes during his noon conference call from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, will ask […]

Pension concessions granted by unionized state employees last year will provide just over one-third of the $4.8 billion savings projected by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration, nonpartisan legislative fiscal analysts reported Friday. The Office of Fiscal Analysis also reported that it thinks the pension fund will gain about $3.6 billion over the next two decades […]

Spurred by a new study showing the high costs of treating the mentally ill in prison, the Malloy administration is searching for ways to treat nonviolent offenders outside the prison system. It costs Connecticut nearly double to both incarcerate and treat an offender with serious mental illnesses, compared with the price of treatment alone, according […]

Despite repeated assurances from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy that savings from union concessions and other cost-cutting measures would be achieved, nonpartisan legislative analysts reported a nearly $145 million state budget deficit Wednesday evening. The latest projection from the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis doesn’t include the nearly $79 million in new cost-cutting measures announced Tuesday […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled plans Monday to reverse nearly two decades of budget gimmicks that leave the state facing huge payments over the next two decades to sustain Connecticut’s grossly underfunded state employee pension fund. But while Malloy touted potential long-range savings, they come with a high price that must be paid up front: […]

One of the leading Wall Street credit rating agencies downgraded Connecticut’s rating Friday, citing a heavily loaded state credit card, huge debts in pension and retiree health care programs, and a depleted emergency reserve. The decision by Moody’s Investors Service to lower state government’s bond rating from Aa3 to Aa2, opens the door for Connecticut […]

The state’s budget isn’t drowning, but its fiscal nose is above water by such a small fraction — 1/134th of 1 percent — it’s almost impossible to see. The latest monthly report from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration, released late Friday afternoon, projects a $1.4 million surplus, with the $88 million cushion originally built into […]

South Windsor — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy used one of the new job creation tools Wednesday that state lawmakers authorized during last fall’s special session, tapping a South Windsor company to launch the new Small Business Express Program. Oxford Performance Materials, which is expected to be the first of dozens of firms to receive assistance […]