The state auditors recently suggested reconvening the Connecticut Progress Council, a “permanent” fiscal accountability agency that stopped functioning after issuing one report 14 years ago. A second panel charged in the early 1990s with finding $10 million in annual state budget savings through efficiencies “never met or filed annual reports,” according to another report from […]

Connecticut’s retired teachers are worried that if trends in the latest state budget are any indication, they might be the next group called upon to balance government finances in the near future. A subpanel of the state Association of Retired Teachers’ met with key legislators in Farmington this week, warning that it believes the state […]

The newly adopted state budget counts on a $100 million cut to the employee pension fund contribution, a savings that’s allowed if revenues slip by $300 million. There’s only one problem: That same budget doesn’t project any revenue loss. In fact, it expects revenues to run nearly $72 million higher than the level assumed in the preliminary 2010-11 budget […]

Democratic State Rep. Tom Reynolds of Ledyard announced late today that he would seek his party’s nomination for state comptroller if incumbent Nancy Wyman opts to become the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial contender Dan Malloy. Reynolds, 43, said he would confirm his plans after Malloy’s 11 a.m. press conference Tuesday at the Capitol, at […]

The state legislature balanced the next budget before it adjourned, but some major proposals to build new fiscal safeguards into the appropriations processed died when the session ended last week. Lawmakers declined to act on proposals to increase by 50 percent the maximum budget reserve – commonly known as the Rainy Day Fund –  that […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]