After four years of assuring cities and towns they would be spared from the state budget axe, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy brought a different message Tuesday to municipal leaders. I’m doing my best, but no promises.
State Budget
Posted inMoney, Politics
5 Things You Need to Know About…Consensus Revenues
Once a month The Mirror will answer five questions about a key element of the state budget process. Labeled “5 Things,” our aim is to de-mystify the arcane language and process that shroud the way the state government chooses to spend taxpayers’ money. Today’s story will take a look at so-called “consensus revenue estimates,” which the state uses to project how much money it expects to have coming into its treasury.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy may use extra time to reset CT’s budget expectations
With two extra weeks before his next budget is due, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy may use that time to reset legislators’ expectations rather than to check his math or fine-tune any proposals.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Children’s Hospital gets $10M extra from CT, raising eyebrows
A new $10 million grant for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, approved Thursday – without going through the legislature and despite a state budget deficit – sparked new questions about its legality and fairness.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Administrator Susan Weisselberg named governor’s deputy budget director
An administrator for the New Haven public school system will become the new deputy budget director for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy later this month. Susan Weisselberg, who also has served as chief legal counsel to the state House Democratic Caucus, will succeed Karen Buffkin as deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management on Jan. 26.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Lembo reports CT budget deficit shrinks to $32M
The state budget deficit shrank modestly over the past month to $32 million, Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo reported Friday. But the state’s chief fiscal watchdog also noted that the deficit would have been larger were the budget not bolstered somewhat by borrowing that has become increasingly controversial in recent years.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy keeps options open on tolls for Connecticut highways
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tried to give himself more flexibility Monday to re-establish tolls, warning he would force a Capitol debate in 2015 on the costs necessary to upgrade the state’s long-neglected transportation network. And while the governor insisted on the campaign trail last fall that two conditions must be met for tolls to be considered, he abandoned one – a precipitous drop in federal transportation funding – on Monday.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy taps Ojakian, Barnes and two commissioners for 2nd terms
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Thursday that Chief of Staff Mark Ojakian, budget director Benjamin Barnes, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith and Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin B. Sullivan all will return.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut, keep the spending cap
As someone who spent too much before becoming a husband and father who is now a little more careful, sometimes I wish our state government could marry my wife.
Posted inHealth, Money
Tug-of-war over limited state funds for CT’s developmentally disabled
Armed with a court expert’s new recommendation to close Southbury Training School, several advocacy groups argued Connecticut unfairly spends too much of its limited resources on a small class of institutionalized disabled while ignoring thousands awaiting community-based care.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Courts, legislature, watchdogs will tighten belts to reduce CT’s deficit
The state’s Judicial and Legislative branches have ordered nearly $7 million in spending cuts Gov. Dannel P. Malloy requested last month, relying heavily on hiring restrictions to reduce costs. And the state’s watchdog agencies also have agreed to find the 1 percent cuts Malloy asked for to help close a small mid-year deficit.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Lembo confirms CT budget is $45M in the red after governor’s cuts
After applying Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s recent emergency budget cuts, state finances are on pace to finish nearly $45 million in deficit, Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo reported Monday.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
CT spending cap threatens to squeeze education, other priorities in next budget
Though taxes and spending cuts dominate the debate over Connecticut’s budget deficit, the constitutional cap on spending is waiting in the wings for its turn. The 23-year-old cap has effectively begun to squeeze resources for education, transportation and other priorities and could also be a political thorn in the side of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly’s majority.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Is Malloy poised to put much of the budget deficit on CT’s credit card?
Though Gov. Dannel P. Malloy insists spending cuts will be used to close this year’s $100 million budget deficit, GOP lawmakers say the Democratic governor is poised to use a rarely publicized bonding tool to effectively close much of the shortfall with borrowing.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Malloy may run afoul of his pledges whether taxing or cutting
Governor Dannel P. Malloy faces plenty of critics who argue he can’t balance the next state budget without breaking his campaign pledge not to raise taxes. But Malloy will be equally hard pressed to close next year’s $1.3 billion-to-$1.4 billion deficit with spending cuts, given the many pledges and fiscal principles he has espoused since taking office four years ago.