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 […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced late tonight she would veto a new Democratic compromise plan to eliminate this fiscal year’s $518 million deficit and also wipe out about 10 percent of the red ink projected for 2010-11. The Republican governor said the plan, which boosts taxes on hospitals and cancels a recent tax break for […]

The Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives, which caved Friday to Senate pressure to back a new deficit-mitigation plan, likely will cancel its Saturday session to vote on the package now the Gov. M. Jodi Rell has pledged to veto it, House sources said. As the Senate entered session just before midnight to vote on the […]

Majority Democrats in the state Senate broke ranks Wednesday with their colleagues in the House of Representatives, announcing they would vote within a few days on their own proposal to close a $500 million-plus shortfall in this fiscal year’s budget. “The current stalemate is unacceptable,” Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, wrote […]

While state legislators remained divided Wednesday over how to tackle the deficit in Connecticut’s budget, sources said a controversial tax designed to lower consumers’ electric bills now is being considered as a means to bail out state government. “I do believe there is a renewed interest” in a windfall profits tax on electricity generators, said […]

Despite nearly $5 billion in deficits projected for through 2012, the state legislature’s Appropriations Committee will recommend later today adding nearly $350 million in spending to next year’s preliminary budget, according to draft documents released by the committee. The Democrat-controlled Appropriations will be asked to adopt a$19.28 billion spending plan for 2010-11, which also tops […]

With the November elections still to go before they must face a 2011 state budget deficit of historic proportions, legislators admit they aren’t ready to order major tax hikes this spring. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t laying the groundwork. “We need a comprehensive overhaul of the entire tax structure in Connecticut,” House Majority Leader […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell warned legislative leaders today not to let the 2010 session end in six weeks without approving a plan to ‘securitize” or sell $1.7 million or more in future state revenues to help balance the next state budget. “The time for making the difficult choices and for taking decisive action is at […]

Majority Democrats in the state Senate broke ranks today with their Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives, announcing they would vote within a few days on their own proposal to close a $500 million-plus shortfall in the current state budget. “The current stalemate is unacceptable,” Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, […]

Finding $1.3 billion in revenue for next year’s budget by selling future income for pennies on the dollar means weighing a series of unpalatable options. Legislators don’t want to give up their revenue streams for too little, but they also don’t want to sell the blue-chip revenue-raisers, like the income tax, that would fetch the […]

State Rep. James F. Spallone of Essex decided against a campaign for secretary of the state, endorsing fellow Democrat Denise W. Merrill of Mansfield, the state House of Representatives’ majority leader. Spallone, who has visited dozens of Democratic town committees since launching his exploratory effort 14 months ago, said ‘the response has been positive.” But […]

State employee unions have rejected Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s request for a second concession package that would have allowed layoffs under certain conditions, required four more furlough days, deferred one cost-of-living raise and canceled longevity bonuses for senior workers. The proposal, which the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition said showed “cynical disrespect” to state government’s 45,000 unionized […]