Responding to shrinking tax revenues, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration suspended about $140 million in payments to Connecticut’s acute-care hospitals this week. The decision drew angry responses from the Connecticut Hospital Association and the legislature’s Republican minority.
State Budget
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Legislature considers furloughs; judiciary cancels raises
Underscoring the fiscal crisis facing Connecticut, the General Assembly is considering furloughs of legislative staff, a rollback of staff raises, and a rare rejection of a negotiated contract. Meanwhile, the Judicial Branch has canceled raises for non-union employees that were to take effect Friday.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Malloy urges rejecting UConn labor pact
After nudging legislators to reject a labor deal granting raises at the University of Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gave them a hard push Wednesday, publicly urging rejection of a contract the university negotiated with its Professional Employees Union. Senate leaders quickly indicated they will comply.
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Municipalities fear big CT deficits will nix promised state aid
In light of surging state budget deficits, municipal leaders were skeptical Tuesday that their communities would receive the hundreds of millions of dollars in state sales tax receipts owed them over the next three years. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities also used their annual lobbying day at the Capitol to urge legislators to spare them from new mandates and to postpone and reform a new municipal spending cap.
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Lembo reports $220M deficit, confirms eroding tax receipts
State Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo certified a $220 million deficit Tuesday for the current fiscal year, a report that largely echoes last week’s warning from the legislature’s nonpartisan analysts about eroding state income tax receipts.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Labor in the crosshairs as budget crunch worsens
Connecticut’s labor leaders insist the writing is on the wall. Barring a dramatic new development, they say, state employees will be asked to grant wage and benefit concessions for the third time in seven years. But that doesn’t mean workers are ready to endorse more givebacks.
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Malloy cancels raises for almost 2,000 managers, appointees
The 3 percent pay raises that nearly 2,000 non-union state managers and appointed staff were expecting to begin receiving Friday have been canceled, the Malloy administration told state agency leaders Monday afternoon.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy warns of workforce cuts, affirms opposition to tax hikes
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration confirmed Friday the downward trend in state revenues — though not the precise numbers — that nonpartisan analysts reported earlier this week. While the governor never used the word “layoff,” he told reporters Friday that state government’s workforce must shrink considerably soon, and that the next state budget still must be balanced without tax hikes.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT finances take another big hit as projected revenues plunge
Connecticut’s finances were dealt a major blow Thursday when nonpartisan analysts downgraded projected income tax receipts by hundreds of millions of dollars for this fiscal year and next.
Posted inMoney
A governor’s search for fiscal ‘balance’ on the road
On Sunday night, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was seated at a table with the president at the White House, where he is appreciated for pushing criminal justice reforms the Justice Department would like to implement on a broader scale. On Tuesday night, he was at a high school in New Haven, listening to complaints about the shrinking reach of state government.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
State budget panel sends mixed message on raises for UConn professionals
Despite huge looming state budget deficits, the legislature’s Appropriations Committee sent a mixed message Tuesday on a contract granting University of Connecticut non-teaching professionals annual raises ranging from 3 to 4.5 percent over the next five years.
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Is a last-minute budget the only one sure to be balanced?
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy challenged legislators recently to break their bad habit of resolving the new state budget in the waning hours of the General Assembly session. But while legislative leaders recognized that last week as a laudable goal, they also said that — if recent history is any guide — an early finish could produce a budget that is unbalanced before the next fiscal year even begins.
Posted inEducation, Justice, Money, Politics
Judiciary says proposed cuts ‘compromise access to justice’
Cutting $64 million from the previously approved funding for the Judicial Branch next fiscal year would result in hundreds of layoffs and force closure of multiple courthouses and a juvenile detention facility, Judge Patrick L. Carroll III, chief court administrator, told the legislature’s Appropriations Committee.
Posted inMoney
CT businesses offer first of six blueprints to cut state spending
Connecticut’s businesses delivered the first of a promised series of blueprints Wednesday to cut state spending over the long haul. The Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century estimated the state could save $657 million annually on long-term care costs by 2025.
Posted inEducation, Money
Clues to where Malloy’s commissioners might cut, if given the authority
Asked by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to give state agency leaders the authority to cut $360.8 million, state legislators are struggling to get a sense of which programs and services gubernatorial appointees would deem “pet projects” and target for reductions or elimination. “What I am trying to figure out when someone from a domestic violence shelter […]