Nearly one month into the new fiscal year, the legislative panel charged with identifying $50 million in cost-saving ideas still hasn’t completed its work, Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration wrote in a rebuke to the group’s leaders. The head of the Office of Policy and Management, the governor’s budget agency, also reminded the Commission on […]

The panel created by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to propose solutions to the huge funding gaps facing state retirement benefit programs fractured Thursday over the question of whether to recommend reductions to the current benefit system. Veteran state union leader Salvatore Luciano and Christine Shaw, director of government relations for state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, both argued […]

When state legislators adopted a host of new tax and fee hikes last September, analysts estimated they would raise enough to cover about $700 million in projected revenue erosion tied to a slumping economy and provide another $250 million in extra funds to boot. But with the final calculation on the 2009-10 fiscal year almost […]

The state got some welcome economic news Tuesday–an estimate that the surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30 has jumped to $393.3 million, up nearly $150 million over the past month–but hardly enough to offset the massive deficit bearing down on the state 12 months from now. The increased surplus reported by Gov. […]

For most of this year’s gubernatorial contenders, discussion of state government spending is focused on ways Connecticut can tighten its belt–and Democrat Dan Malloy is no exception. But in one vital area, tourism promotion, Malloy announced Monday that Connecticut needs to start spending more right away. The former Stamford mayor unveiled a tourism platform that […]

Republican gubernatorial contender Michael Fedele could be cleared by mid-day Wednesday to pick up an additional $312,500 in public funds for his campaign–provided he wins his argument today before the state Supreme Court. UPDATE: state Supreme Court refuses to block funds. The State Elections Enforcement Commission is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday to […]

State government is on pace to close the books on the last fiscal year $393.3 million in the black – $260 million higher than the surplus projected when the new budget was adopted in early May – Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration reported today. The latest surplus projection, which also stands about $150 million above […]

Michael C. Fedele has no problem drawing a line in the fiscal sand. For the Republican gubernatorial contender from Stamford, that means the enormous deficit looming over state government has to be closed without higher taxes, higher fees, or additional borrowing. There are no loopholes.   Facing the budget: Last in a series. “I don’t […]

One of the state’s largest labor coalitions, the Connecticut State Council of the Service Employees International Union, has endorsed Democratic gubernatorial contender Dan Malloy and his running mate, Nancy Wyman. The council, whose delegates represent the SEIU’s six affiliated unions involving about 55,000 public- and private-sector workers in Connecticut, voted Friday to back Malloy and […]

The state’s largest health care workers union called on Gov. M. Jodi Rell this morning to intervene in its three-month-long strike against the Vernon-based owner of six Connecticut nursing homes. About 100 members of New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, picketed for an hour today outside of the governor’s residence on Prospect Street […]

Ending the “fee for service” model that encourages doctors to schedule unnecessary tests and patient visits would be a crucial first step toward reducing a state health care bill that ranks as one of the nation’s highest, according to Democratic gubernatorial contender Ned Lamont. The Greenwich businessman unveiled a health care plan this week that […]

There are all kinds of fiscal crises in state government. And on Tuesday, state Sen. Gary D. LeBeau wanted to know what kind of crisis Connecticut was in if it could afford to buy a soccer field for Middletown and a community arts center in Vernon – while staring at a monstrous budget deficit looming less […]

As Connecticut struggles to control the cost of retirement benefits, one item under consideration may be a health insurance program generous by state government standards and rare in the private sector: discounted lifetime coverage of retirees and the spouses of retirees who log 10 years of service at any time in their careers. A panel created […]

The biggest danger posed by the massive state budget deficit looming just 12 months away, according to Ned Lamont, is the uncertainty. Fear over what’s to come paralyzes businesses, municipal governments, and even households. Facing the budget: Fifth in a series. But when it comes to some of the largest pieces of the budget puzzle […]