Though state government has gone 102 days into the new fiscal year without a budget, the outgoing year’s finances weren’t trouble-free. Connecticut closed the 2016-17 fiscal year with a $22.7 million deficit, its third consecutive year in the red.
Keith M. Phaneuf
Keith has spent most of his 31 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. He has been the state finances reporter at CT Mirror since it launched in 2010. Prior to joining CT Mirror Keith was State Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, a reporter for the Day of New London, and a former contributing writer to The New York Times. Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.
Posted inMoney
Legislative leaders aim for tentative CT budget deal, but then what?
While legislators leaders were cautiously hopeful Monday they could recommend a bipartisan state budget deal by early next week, whether it would be a package rank-and-file lawmakers could accept remained uncertain.
Posted inMoney
Malloy: Budget standoff is putting new CT jobs at risk
The state’s 14-week-old budget impasse is taking a toll on Connecticut’s economic development efforts, putting thousands of potential new jobs at risk, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Hospital lawsuit no longer an obstacle to new CT budget deal
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration clarified its position Thursday on a new taxing arrangement with Connecticut’s hospital industry — removing a key stumbling block to a new state budget in the process.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Can CT lawmakers move past rhetoric to a new budget?
Whether legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy can prevent a Hartford bankruptcy, further bond rating downgrades, emergency municipal tax increases, and the loss of huge federal dollars could hinge on their ability to set aside political rhetoric.
Posted inMoney, Politics
No budget progress amid a day of political theater
Connecticut’s budget drama continued Tuesday with two plot twists: the failure of the House to override the veto of a Republican-authored budget, followed by a Democratic challenge for the GOP to accept a legally suspect measure to temporarily stabilize public services while continuing negotiations.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
AG offers no assurances on legality of Malloy budget order
Attorney General George Jepsen offered a legal opinion Tuesday that questioned the legality of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to administer municipal aid in the absence of a state budget. But he offered Malloy and the legislature just one alternative — write a new state budget.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Speaker: House will uphold Malloy’s budget veto
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz predicted late Monday the chamber would uphold Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s veto of the Republican-crafted state budget when it meets today.
Posted inMoney, Politics
House to consider overriding Malloy budget veto Tuesday
The House of Representatives will waste little time in deciding whether to allow Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s veto of a Republican-crafted state budget to stand, coming into session Tuesday to decide whether to override his decision.
Posted inEducation, Money
Municipal aid hit will multiply as big grants are cut this week
The toll Connecticut’s budget standoff has taken on cities and towns will nearly quadruple this week as key education and general government grants will be reduced or withheld.
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Scotland’s first selectman: ‘It’s raise taxes, dissolve the town, or go bankrupt’
The tiny eastern Connecticut community of Scotland and its 1,700 residents made headlines this summer when they opted to flirt with insolvency — and even explore dissolution. In this week’s Sunday conversation, First Selectman Daniel Syme talks about his community’s dilemma and says it will not declare bankruptcy and is determined not to borrow.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Plan to leverage big federal aid for CT hospitals in limbo
The fate of a complex new taxing arrangement that would leverage hundreds of millions of federal dollars for the state and Connecticut hospitals to share hung in legal limbo Thursday.
Posted inMoney
Market analysts: Hartford bankruptcy could have ‘contagion’ effect
As the prospect of a Hartford bankruptcy looms large, an independent bond market analysis firm warned this week that it could have “a contagion” effect, lowering bond ratings and raising borrowing costs for other communities and the state as a whole.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy vetoes budget, seeks ‘honest dialogue’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy delivered Thursday on his vow to veto the Republican budget unexpectedly passed with a handful of Democratic votes, calling it a gimmick-laden measure that would consign Hartford to bankruptcy, devastate public higher education, invite certain lawsuits from state employees and add to Connecticut’s pension liabilities.
Posted inHealth, Money
Old hospital lawsuit poses new wrinkle in budget talks
The struggle to adopt a new state budget hit another stumbling block Wednesday centered on a hospital industry lawsuit: At issue is a new taxing arrangement that the administration and the Connecticut Hospital Association negotiated that would help both sides by leveraging $365 million in new federal aid for them to share.