In This Together CT

http://www.theday.com/article/20100302/NWS12/303029907/1018

By Ted Mann
Publication: The Day
Published 03/02/2010 12:00 AM

$504M plan also targets social programs, spending cuts; no tax increases included
Hartford – Relying heavily on next year’s Rainy Day Fund and cuts to social programs, Gov. M. Jodi Rell Monday released a $504 million package to eliminate the state’s current-year budget deficit.

The package, which includes more than $81 million in spending reductions, achieves the majority of its deficit reduction by spending the remains of the state’s budget reserve fund, anticipating increased federal aid and raiding off-budget accounts that pay for environmental protection, biomedical research, state elections and transportation infrastructure.

The package would also extend relief to municipal governments by relaxing some state mandates such as the requirements that towns publish legal notices in newspapers and that school districts hold suspended students in schools rather than send them home.

Many of Rell’s proposals in the latest mitigation plan, including raids on budget funds like the Stem Cell Research Fund and the Citizens Election Fund, have been rejected in previous iterations by the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly.

Aiming to close a deficit that has risen slightly to a projected $503.9 million, Rell’s plan would also shift nearly $220 million of the state’s Rainy Day Fund from the fiscal 2011 budget into the current year to help close the gap.

The hole that creates in the ensuing year would be closed with federal aid and a variety of spending reductions, including pushing a greater share of cooperative programs onto the budget of the University of Connecticut and combining the observation of Presidents Day and Lincoln’s Birthday for state workers – for a savings of $3.2 million next year, if approved by state worker unions.

“Connecticut faces a current budget deficit estimated by my office of Policy and Management at $503.9 million – a figure that is only likely to grow, in view of Connecticut and the nation’s agonizingly slow recovery from this economic downturn,” Rell said in a press release that accompanied her plan.

“This deficit must be eliminated now through swift and decisive action. We cannot afford to wait and hope or to count on future revenues that no one is certain we will collect,” she said.

Democrats have protected some of the programs singled out in Rell’s new plan from the governor’s prior attempts to cut them. The programs include funding for Healthy Start, teen pregnancy prevention and transportation for the elderly.

Rell would cut $2 million from Operation Fuel, which provides assistance with utility bills for low- and medium-income households.

The governor’s press release notes that she does not propose any tax increases, but the governor would impose a hospital “user fee” in fiscal 2011 that would raise $64.7 million.

As to the municipal mandates, Rell said cities and towns could save upwards of $14 million a year if they were allowed to post public notices on the Internet instead of newspapers, were not required to store the possessions of evicted tenants and did not have to keep suspended students in school.

Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said in a statement that lawmakers would begin reviewing Rell’s proposal at once.

“One thing remains clear: Real spending cuts will be necessary to help balance the budget,” Williams said. “It is also critical that we take action to grow and protect jobs – something that has a direct impact on tax revenues and the deficit.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues in the General Assembly and the governor on both of these important issues.”

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