Leaders insist their blueprint would close massive future deficits without tax hikes. To do that, though, the GOP minorities in the House and Senate would dilute the two big initiatives Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democratic majority launched last June: a 30-year investment in transportation and a plan to share sales tax receipts with cities and towns.
municipal aid
Posted inMoney, Politics
Key budget players still aren’t talking as clock ticks on session
With just two and a half weeks left in the 2016 General Assembly session, the chief players in the state budget drama still haven’t begun talking — at a time negotiations normally would be in full swing. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is frustrated with his fellow Democrats in the legislature’s majority — whose only plan for the new fiscal year was $340 million out of balance — and with a Republican minority that won’t issue a new plan.
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Bye urges colleagues, Malloy to scale back town aid cuts
The Senate chair of the General Assembly’s budget-writing panel challenged her colleagues and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Thursday to ease the municipal aid cuts they are seeking — or watch one budget be rejected after another. Sen. Beth Bye also fears many cities and towns already are making plans to increase property tax rates based on the state budgets proposed over the past week.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Legislature adopts bipartisan plan to close this year’s modest deficit
The General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a bipartisan plan Tuesday afternoon to close most or all of the current budget deficit, immediately shifting the legislature’s focus to a far larger projected shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
CT deficit plan taps many special funds and one-time sources
While the General Assembly is expected to adopt a plan in special session Tuesday to close most or all of this fiscal year’s budget deficit, restore some funds for hospitals and finance modest business tax breaks, almost 40 percent of the plan diverts resources from specialized funds and various one-time sources.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Health, Justice, Money, Politics, Transportation
Democrats: Suspend public financing of elections, cut transportation and local aid
The leaders of the legislature’s Democratic majority Monday recommended suspending the state’s public-financing of elections for 2016, cutting social services and retreating from two major initiatives on transportation and municipal aid.
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Municipal groups: Cuts in aid by another name hurt just as much
A troubling new trend in state budgets, according to municipal lobbying groups, involves cuts to town grants accompanied by a promise to offset those cuts with cost-saving initiatives. But those initiatives, municipal leaders say, haven’t been delivered.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Search begins for tax reform, not more revenue
The panel studying Connecticut’s tax system got some sobering news Wednesday morning in separate reports detailing the state’s struggle to recover from the last recession and the challenge of closing the wealth gap between the cities and wealthy suburbs.
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Legislators resist granting Malloy his transportation ‘lockbox’
While Gov. Dannel P. Malloy watched his transportation initiative take another step forward Tuesday, it remained uncertain whether legislators are willing to insulate transportation funds from future budget cuts.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Legislators vote to roll back a share of CT business tax hikes
The General Assembly sent a revised biennial budget to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy early Tuesday, rolling back $178 million of the $1.5 billion worth of tax hikes built into the original plan.
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Legislature to return Monday for concessions to business
The legislature and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would sacrifice pieces of their biggest initiatives – property tax reform and transportation, respectively – to help roll back about 10 percent of the tax hikes in the new state budget, sources from the House and Senate Democratic caucuses said Friday. Legislators return Monday for what they hope will be a one-day special session.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Looming deficits already threaten transportation, town aid initiatives
A new, two-year state budget would make unprecedented investments in communities and transportation. But while Gov. Dannel P. Malloy insists his transportation investment will be protected by a legal lockbox, and Democratic lawmakers profess their commitment to local aid, looming deficits that start arriving in 2017-18 have advocates for both constituencies admitting they’re worried.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
House adopts controversial state budget
Connecticut’s long-running budget drama began drawing to a close early Wednesday as the House of Representatives adopted a $40.3 billion, two-year package that largely restores deep cuts to social services and expands municipal aid while bolstering tax revenues by almost $2 billion.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Governor would cancel some town aid, other grants to close this year’s deficit
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wants legislators to cancel $12.7 million owed cities and towns and withhold another $24 million earmarked for biomedical research, open space and historic preservation activities to reduce this year’s budget deficit.
Posted inEducation, Money
Panel: Empower towns to raise revenue, control special ed costs
Expanding municipal taxation options, encouraging communities to share costs regionally and reforming special education topped House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey’s new plan Thursday to bolster local and state budgets.