Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was challenged by his critics Monday to reduce his own office’s staffing–where total salaries are up 9 percent in annual value over May 2010–before deciding how many state employee layoffs are needed to balance the budget. “We’re not going to balance the budget on cuts to the governor’s office alone, but it’s important, it’s symbolic, to […]

Though state employees have voted down a concessions package worth an estimated $700 million in the next budget year, there are elements of that plan that don’t require a vote and–on paper–could save as much as $170 million. But Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday that he’s not confident those savings–which were supposed to come […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has recommended nearly 5,500 state employee layoffs, elimination of 1,000 other vacant positions and a $54 million cut in municipal aid to help offset the unrealized savings from the failed union concession deal. It was unclear from limited details released late Tuesday afternoon how much savings could be achieved over the […]

As they scramble to deal with rejection of the union concessions deal, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative leaders are in the position to having money to fill at least part of the $700 million hole it leaves, but a big constitutional obstacle to using it. The state is looking at more than $150 million […]

The apparent rejection of a concessions deal by state employees leaves Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly with a sizable hole in the budget for the year that begins in just over a week. The question is, how much do they have to make up? It’s not the $700 million that the labor […]

For the past five months, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has put a scare in municipal governments and social service providers, warning they could well face deep cuts in aid if unionized state employees refuse concessions. But while those threats may have been effective at mobilizing advocates for these groups to press state workers for givebacks, […]

As state employees weigh the concession deal now being voted on by unions, one major factor is what workers rely on in assessing the prospects for an early retirement incentive offer: the insistence of a new governor that such an offer won’t be forthcoming, or the actions of four previous governors who have turned to […]

Connecticut’s cities and towns were spared major funding cuts in this year’s state budget–as long as state employees accept a concession deal–but they face the potential of a more fundamental upheaval: an overall assessment of how nearly $2.9 billion in aid is distributed among the 169 municipalities. Legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy agreed just […]

On the heels of a major consolidation, Connecticut’s probate court system will end a year in the black for the first time in six fiscal years later this month, reducing its reliance on the General Fund and returning more than $5 million to the state’s coffers. The turnaround is well-timed as the new state biennial […]

CROMWELL–After being praised Thursday for expanding municipal aid in the new state budget, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned local officials that he might take some of that back should labor unions reject a tentative concession package. Addressing the annual meeting of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the governor told more than 100 mayors, first selectmen […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democratic legislature made two bold wagers in adopting the governor’s first biennial budget: that 45,000 unionized state employees will ratify a concession-and-labor savings deal, and that the $1.6 billion in purported savings are real. With a ratification vote under way, they will know soon if they won the first […]

Amazon.com and other online retailers have severed their Connecticut business ties, rather than accede to a new state law that will require any online company with a physical presence in the state to collect the sales tax. But now, it seems, the taxman cannot be so easily dodged. “They can run, but they cannot hide,” […]

Personal income rose nearly 5 percent in the first quarter of 2011, but state officials need to beware that revenue from a just-increased income tax relies more than ever on volatile earnings tied to an uncertain stock market, according to the latest quarterly report from the University of Connecticut. The warning about tax volatility was […]

One of the few things Gov. Dannel P. Malloy didn’t get from his fellow Democrats in the legislature’s majority is the power to cut municipal aid mid-year in the face of a fiscal emergency. But if the state employee unions rejects a tentative concession deal later this month–punching a $700 million hole into next fiscal year’s state […]

With the dust barely settled on the 2011 legislative session and $1.5 billion in tax hikes just over three weeks away, majority Democratic lawmakers predicted Thursday that voters would appreciate the fiscal stability–both in state and local government–and forgive a modest imposition on their wallets. But Republicans, who spent their first session dealing with a […]