Keith M. Phaneuf

The legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee is expected to approve selling future revenues tied to monthly electric bills for pennies on the dollar to provide $1.3 billion to help balance next fiscal year’s budget, sources said this afternoon. The committee, which began meeting 10 minutes ago, also will not back an alternative securitization plan, […]

The legislature’s tax-writing committee adopted a revised plan this afternoon to boost the tax on wealthy estates, and to add a 5.5 percent levy on hospital gross revenues. The measure adopted by the Democrat-controlled Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee continues to exempt estates valued at less than $3.5 million. But the bill, which now heads […]

Planning to attend a concert? Be prepared to pay the state admissions tax – unless the performance is held at the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford, Ocean Beach Park in New London, or one of a few other select venues. Looking to store something? If it’s a boat, you’re in luck–no tax. If it’s furniture, […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration wants to move state government’s data center and supporting offices out of their East Hartford home and onto the Newington campus of a state psychiatric hospital slated for closure. Though the administration largely has been silent about its search for a new home for the Department of Information Technology, Rell’s […]

Nearly $4.7 million that the state Senate wanted to use to lower the budget deficit is now on its way out the door – in the form of bonuses to senior state employees. Though longevity payment checks likely won’t be issued until April 23, the funds had to be committed by the end of business […]

Faced with conflicting signals on legislative priorities, the tax-writing Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee may let its deadline pass next Tuesday without acting on some key issues facing the deficit-wracked state government. Chief among them: Which future revenues should be sold – at a discount – to secure a $1.3 billion payment needed to balance […]

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman certified a $371 million deficit today for the current fiscal year, down nearly $150 million from last month’s forecast. But the state’s chief fiscal guardian also expressed concerns about potential cost overruns across state government that could reach $285 million before the fiscal year ends on June 30. Wyman also declined […]

Trying to follow state government’s budget surpluses and deficits is confusing enough in normal times. Spending and revenue trends are tracked for the current year and as far off as five years down the road – and three different agencies study some or all of them. Given that the past 18 months have produced more red ink […]

Newington Mayor Jeffrey Wright ended his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination this afternoon, adding he will endorse the early GOP frontrunner, Greenwich businessman Thomas Foley, in the next few days. Wright, 38, who has been mayor since 2007, also announced he still wants to be on the GOP’s ticket this fall, and will launch […]

Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr. spent much of Monday trying to extricate himself from between a fiscal rock and a hard place–better known as Gov. M. Jodi Rell and House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan of Meriden. The vacationing Republican governor’s staunch defense of a $70 million annual tax break for residents inheriting […]

The state Senate adopted a deficit reduction plan shortly before 5:20 a.m. Saturday that aims to close a $518 million gap in the current year budget, despite the promise of a veto by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Although Democratic leaders of the Senate said they would not be deterred by Rell’s threat, it was enough to […]

The General Assembly inched toward fiscal gridlock Thursday as its budget panel narrowly passed a plan that would boost spending next fiscal year by $350 million, shift social and environmental programs into unrelated funds backed by industry fees and electric bills, and dramatically redistribute payments to hospitals. The $19.28 billion Appropriations Committee proposal not only […]

Cities and towns received a much-needed fiscal shot in the arm this week when Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration released $30 million in long-overdue road reconstruction grants. Municipal leaders have been clamoring since July for their Town Aid Road grants, one of the chief funding sources of local road improvements. The grant traditionally is dispersed […]

The Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate reached a compromise this afternoon on a plan to eliminate most of this fiscal year’s $518.4 million deficit, relying chiefly on restoring a gross revenues tax on hospitals and reversing a January reduction in the levy on wealthy estates, sources said. The Senate is scheduled to […]

Democratic state lawmakers’ new deficit-mitigation plan would eliminate 21 deputy commissioners in Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration, saving $3.1 million annually, according to documents and other sources. The plan also would cancel seniority bonuses and require another furlough day for non-union workers, cut back health care, social service and education programs and make other reductions […]