Rell to host budget meeting at governor’s residence

Saturday, June 27, 2009 9:21 PM EDT
By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press

NEWINGTON — Gov. M. Jodi Rell and legislative leaders have agreed to meet Sunday at the governor’s residence and attempt to hammer out a budget deal, possibly before the fiscal year ends Tuesday.

There have been no formal talks between Democrats and Republicans since the General Assembly adjourned on June 3. Rell and the General Assembly have been at odds for months over how to cover a massive budget deficit, estimated to be as high as $8.8 billion over the next two fiscal years beginning July 1.

Despite the decision to meet, there’s no guarantee they will reach a compromise.

On Saturday, Rell made it clear she does not like the direction that Democrats have been taking with their tax and spending plans. Appearing at Phillip and Sarah Bucchi’s kitchen in Newington, Rell signed her impending veto of the Democrats’ two-year budget, which was passed on Friday.

She did not date the document, so her veto won’t be official until she receives the budget bill, possibly on Monday.

“It is quite simply unbalanced, unaffordable and unfinished,” said Rell, who criticized the two-year, approximately $37 billion proposal for raising state taxes and fees by $2.5 billion and lacking what she considers “real spending cuts.”

Democrats, however, maintain the plan is a good blueprint and preserves many key state services and programs, such as funding for nursing homes.

Even though the Bucchis — a teacher and a stay-at-home mother — won’t be affected by the Democrats’ plan to raise income tax rates on higher income earners, Rell said the proposal will still hurt the middle class because it does not reduce the size and cost of government and will ultimately lead to more red ink and higher taxes.

In her veto message, Rell said the “abject failure” of the Democrats’ budget is that it does not reduce state spending in any meaningful way.

The two top Democratic leaders held a counter event Saturday at the Life Star emergency medical helicopter landing pad at Hartford Hospital. Some funding for Life Star was cut in Rell’s original February budget and Democrats have held a series of appearances highlighting those types of reductions in recent weeks.

“As we begin earnest negotiations with the governor, starting tomorrow, one of the things that we’re going to be fighting for are the critical services that in many cases save lives in the state of Connecticut,” said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, pointing out how the Democrats’ budget restored funding for Life Star.

Williams maintains that Democrats and Rell are not far from reaching a deal.

“My optimism comes from my hope that when folks get in the room, we have the governor in the room, the legislative leadership in the room, that we will check the politics and the rhetoric at the door and we will get down to the business of getting a complete and responsible budget for the people of Connecticut.”

If both sides don’t reach an agreement by Tuesday, that means no budget will be in place for the new fiscal year beginning July 1 and Rell will likely have to run the state by executive order, choosing which bills to pay.

House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said the smoothness of that process will likely depend on how well budget negotiations go over the coming days.

“My hope is that when we get together tomorrow, there will be a beginning of us working together, and in that case, should the deadline pass — and I hope it doesn’t — but if it should pass, I hope we work together on what the next step is.”

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