SEBAC: Rell’s New Budget Is Not Good Enough; “Half Measure”
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/08/sebac-rells-new-budget-is-not.html
By Christopher Keating
on August 27, 2009 7:41 AM
The state employee unions believe that Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s latest budget offering – which includes the millionaires’ tax that has been sought by Democrats for years – is not enough.
Calling the move a “half measure,” the unions say that “some parts of the governor’s latest proposal to reach a budget compromise will only make a bad situation worse.”
The union leaders noted that the proposed cut in the sales tax would include a cut in the money paid even on luxury items.
“We’ve maintained all along during these budget negotiations that Connecticut’s crisis cannot be solved through cuts to vital public services,” said Sal Luciano, Executive Director of Council 4 AFSCME. “Our members stepped up this year and agreed to significant givebacks to help balance the budget. It’s too bad the governor is still sheltering billionaires by cutting their inheritance taxes.”
“Our members who work in Connecticut’s community colleges are hearing over and over that students and parents are worried. They are worried that the student loan program won’t be there to help them with the rising cost of a higher education” said Steve Cohen, the President of 4Cs/SEIU Local 1973. “That’s not government bloat, as the governor calls it. It’s a vital service. And the only way to pay for it is to ask the wealthy and corporations to help out. How does tossing the estate tax bring in needed funds?”
But House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk and Senate GOP leader John McKinney of Southport said that Rell had made major concessions toward a budget compromise.
“I am most supportive of the governor’s call on the Democrats to make further spending reductions, which they have heretofore refused to do,” Cafero said. “I cannot speculate on the response this proposal will receive from the entire House Republican caucus until we have the opportunity to discuss and digest it. We maintain that this is the absolute worst time to raise taxes and believe that Connecticut can have a budget solution without tax increases. But we continue to stand ready to work toward a bipartisan budget agreement.”
McKinney, too, said he needed to study the proposal further before deciding how he will vote.
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