Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration announced today it has forwarded the names of another 10 state employees to agency heads for review in connection with the ongoing food stamps fraud investigation. This brings the total number of state workers still under close review to 44. An additional 29 employees already have been cleared of any […]
Keith M. Phaneuf
Keith has spent most of his four decades 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.
LeBeau hopes to renew debate on smaller legislature
While a new report shows Connecticut outspends most other states in terms of legislative costs, an East Hartford lawmaker hopes it will breathe a second life into his Quixotic bid to eliminate jobs by shrinking the General Assembly. Sen. Gary LeBeau said that when the next regular session convenes in February he either will re-introduce […]
Your credit card bill is high? The state owes $19.5 billion
Holiday shoppers aren’t the only ones taking a wary look at their credit card balances these days. State government recently undertook its own annual debt review, looking from several perspectives but coming to the same conclusion each time: Connecticut remains one of the most indebted states in the nation. The state entered the fiscal year […]
Lawmakers fear state budget cuts forced UConn tuition hike
Defending a plan to collect an extra $50 million per year from students by 2016, University of Connecticut officials said Monday that represents the cost of adding nearly 300 faculty. But another way of describing the extra student costs is that they also match a hole punched into UConn finances in recent months by Gov. […]
Draft report renews fears about watchdogs’ autonomy
The battle over consolidating state government’s watchdog agencies could be headed for a second round in 2012, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s choice to guide the merger offered a preview this week. David L. Guay, acting executive administrator for the new Office of Governmental Accountability, wrote in a draft report to legislators that he faces […]
Malloy plays Santa — or Scrooge — at Bond Commission
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy used Connecticut’s credit card Friday for the last time in 2011, and there were nice gifts for six large businesses, legislative allies and himself. While two of the Democratic governor’s Republican critics charged that Malloy hasn’t really curbed the state’s free-spending ways, the governor noted that Connecticut’s unemployed got a nice present […]
Heat ‘Affordability Gap’ Leaves Thousands of Families in the Cold
While state officials struggle to fund winter heating assistance, the gap between what Connecticut’s poorest families need to heat their homes, and what they can actually afford, continues to grow, a new study reported Thursday. Operation Fuel, a private, nonprofit agency that expects to help more than 7,000 households keep warm this winter, reported that […]
Utility puts price tag on better safeguards against power outages
The state’s largest electric utility insisted Wednesday it could reduce outages by up to 40 percent a decade from now with a 10-year improvement plan that would gradualy add more than $13 to the average residential monthly bill. Connecticut Light & Power Co. unveiled a plan to invest an extra $2.2 billion in tree-trimming, line […]
Progressive tax advocates say Connecticut should follow New York’s example
A progressive tax coalition offered a polite I-told-you-so to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the legislature after New York officials agreed last week to keep their top income tax rate nearly one-third higher than Connecticut’s. Better Choices for Connecticut, a coalition of labor and other progressive advocacy groups, also challenged officials to launch a panel […]
Even with power outages, Connecticut’s quality of life tops most other states’
Fed up with unprecedented mass power outages, one on the heels of another? How about last winter’s record-setting snowfall? And don’t forget last summer’s $1.5 billion state tax hike? Then again, Connecticut generally has a temperate climate, high incomes and quality health care, and ready access to recreational and cultural amenities. But before the debate heats up, […]
Recession expands Connecticut’s pockets of poverty
Though Connecticut’s overall economic health remains higher than that of most states, the last recession dramatically expanded the income gap that sparked the Occupy movement, both in Hartford and nationally, according to a new report from the University of Connecticut. University economists, who released the latest issue Monday of their quarterly economic journal, also warned […]
Lembo challenges state to evaluate its tax breaks
Studying Connecticut’s tax system can be as exciting as reading the phone book — and it takes just as long. There are dozens of credits, exemptions and other breaks, some dating back decades, spread across more than 10 different taxes with a combined annual value topping $5.4 billion. It would be nice, Comptroller Kevin P. […]
Malloy may have to choose between spending cap and budget reforms
In a parting shot from the last recession, the state budget spending cap will clamp down tighter over the next few years than at any other time in its history, state fiscal analysts are warning. But the cap no longer is the fiscal bogeyman it was when it was enacted two decades ago. And Gov. […]
DEEP Commissioner Esty wants outage-free safety zones in each community
Every community in Connecticut would have a select region safeguarded against power outages and containing shelters, public safety, groceries and other crucial services under a strategy outlined Wednesday by the state’s top environmental official. In his first testimony on the recent storms that caused record-setting outages, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel C. […]
Expert: CL&P’s worst-case plan did not look far beyond 100,000 outages
Connecticut Light & Power Co. was unprepared for the 809,000 outages it faced after an unprecedented Oct. 29 snowstorm, an independent assessment concluded Friday, noting that CL&P’s “worst-case scenario” plan offered little guidance for outages beyond 100,000 customers. In a report delivered to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and a state study panel, Witt Associates of […]

