Keith M. Phaneuf

The top Democrats in the General Assembly are the-glass-is-half-full kind of guys, at least when it comes to fiscal matters. Sure there’s a deficit looming 14 months down the road, they said, but by working in harmony with Gov. M. Jodi Rell, they closed budget deficits for this fiscal year and next. What’s one more? […]

Major state tax increases may be in the cards next year given the massive deficit projections, but that doesn’t mean the General Assembly is ready to think about it now. A controversial bill to order a sweeping study of Connecticut’s state and municipal tax network died on the Senate calendar Wednesday as the 2010 session’s […]

The countdown to state government’s real fiscal storm began late Wednesday, just 10 minutes before the gavel closed the 2010 legislative session. That’s when lawmakers wrapped up a revised $19.01 billion budget that avoids official tax hikes but places a new surcharge on consumer electric bills, borrows nearly $1 billion, raids an already weakened workers’ pension […]

State legislators got a crash course in budget high finance Tuesday, mixed with a dash of constitutional law. After more than 12 months of planning, securitization – that mysterious financial process that can close a $1 billion-plus budget gap without tax hikes or deep program cuts – was yanked unceremoniously off the budget table. In […]

The clock appeared to run out late Monday on a controversial measure hailed by advocates as the key to stopping corporate tax cheats and panned by critics as the surest way to drive businesses out of Connecticut. The so-called “combined reporting” bill lay trapped on the Senate calendar, caught amidst a likely veto from Gov. […]

After hearing for the past three months about “ugly” budget-balancing options like imposing surcharges on electric bills and raiding clean energy programs that sustain thousands of jobs, state legislators could be asked as early as today to approve them. Sources said Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature’s Democratic majority reached a tentative deal late […]

The tentative state budget deal presented to legislators this morning relies on more than $15 million in savings tied to reduced prison populations, as well as additional cuts targeting tourism programs and an already-delayed state contract review agency. According to draft documents obtained by The Connecticut Mirror, the plan would reduce overall spending by $171.8 […]

On paper, Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature’s Democratic majority are very close to a tentative plan to balance the next state budget. In reality, though, one sticking point remains, and according to sources close to both sides, it is arguably the most controversial item in the preliminary, $18.93 billion budget adopted last September […]

For the first time in 20 months, state government’s finances are officially in the black. State Comptroller Nancy Wyman reported this afternoon that Connecticut is on pace to finish the fiscal year on June 30 with a $105 million surplus. The change from negative to positive was due largely to a $323 million deficit-mitigation plan […]

The gulf between Gov. M. Jodi Rell and fellow Republicans in the legislature tore open this afternoon as House and Senate GOP leaders accused the lame duck governor of abandoning any effort to alleviate the multi-billion-dollar deficit she is on pace to hand off to her successor next year. Rell’s office declined any immediate comment, but […]

Republican legislators’ hopes for a pre-campaign season debate on the mammoth-sized deficit facing state government in 14 months were dashed this weekend, prompting GOP leaders to accuse Gov. M. Jodi Rell of ducking the problem. And while majority Democrats in the General Assembly dismissed the minority’s objections as mere posturing, the Republican governor took a […]

A bill to cancel more than $420 million in planned state government borrowing, including funds for dozens of small projects in state legislators’ home districts, is now on its way to Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s desk. The House of Representatives voted 145-0 Saturday to adopt the measure, which passed unanimously in the Senate on Friday and […]

The chances of survival for a controversial bill to force collection of sales taxes on Internet transactions have become very slim as the regular legislative session nears its May 5 deadline, key lawmakers said Thursday. The problem, according to leaders of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, is that many legislators fear businesses could be […]

State revenues were projected to increase without the help of a tax hike for the first time in 2 ½ years in a new report released late Thursday by Executive and Legislative branch analysts. But don’t break out the champagne just yet. The nearly $406 million in annual extra revenues Connecticut can expect by 2011-12 […]

In a rare move of bipartisan frugality, the state Senate unanimously adopted a bill this afternoon that cancels $422 million in planned borrowing to keep state government’s credit card under its statutory limit. The measure, which now heads to the House of Representatives, cancels dozens of community and regional projects in legislators’ home districts and […]