Candidate Fedele Outlines Plans To Cut State Spending
http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-fedele-proposals-gop-0318,0,6395246.story
The Hartford Courant
March 18, 2010
Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele on Wednesday called for deep spending cuts that would include a four-year hiring freeze, merging state agencies, capping pensions and eliminating bonus payments for state employees.
Fedele, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said he would propose no tax increases if elected in November. And if the Republicans win majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate for the first time since 1986, he said, he would pledge to have no new taxes at all.
“Raising taxes is the wrong solution — wrong a year ago and wrong today,” Fedele told reporters at the state Capitol complex.
The state currently is paying more than $1.2 billion annually in pension benefits to more than 42,000 retirees, an amount Fedele said was unsustainable.
In addition, the state pension fund is underfunded by $9.3 billion, which he called “the equivalent of a ticking time bomb” for the state.
“Quite simply, state employees should not enjoy benefits that far exceed those available to the average working person in our state,” Fedele said. He said all new state employees should be enrolled in a 401(k)-style plan that is common in the private sector.
Fedele also called for eliminating state employee “longevity payments,” essentially bonuses paid to those who have more than 10 years with the state. The bonuses — as well as overtime — should not be used for calculations in state-employee pensions, he said.
Matthew O’Connor, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Employees Association, SEIU Local 2001, said, “It is surprising that the lieutenant governor doesn’t understand our current pension plan. But his comments are not so surprising, considering where he is in the polls. It’s clear that what the lieutenant governor would rather do is pit public-sector workers against private-sector workers.”
Fedele was in second place among Republicans in a January Quinnipiac University poll. In first was former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley, a Greenwich millionaire who has been running TV commercials to raise his name recognition. A new poll was scheduled to be released this morning.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant
March 18th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
E.R.I.P………Connecticut employee’s have given a very large amount of give backs ,thus doing there part in this crisis. Come this spring open the ERIP to 52-54 year old State employee’s…….Now is the time to decrease state government………Do it in one sweep……..
E-MAIL THE GOVERNOR and/or your STATE REPRESENTITIVE ask to OPEN UP THE ERIP AND SAVE CONN. Millions More during this economic crisis.
STATE WORKERS ARE READY TO HELP OUT AGAIN.