Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has sent a deficit mitigation plan to state lawmakers. The plan provides several options for taxes and spending cuts to help balance the state’s budget. The budget is projected to be more than $200 million in deficit for the current fiscal year that ends on June 30.
The options in Democratic Governor Malloy’s plan include increases to the cigarette, sales and real estate conveyance taxes. Also on the table would be cuts to municipal aid and public educational funding. Malloy is hoping to boost state revenue by $302 million for the 2018 fiscal year. That’s nearly $100 million more than the projected deficit of $208 million.
Senate Democratic President Martin Looney welcomes Malloy’s plan being presented before the end of the year. “By presenting to us two weeks earlier, I think it helps advance discussions on the deficit mitigation plan.”
Looney says he’s hoping legislative leaders will try and reach a bipartisan agreement in those two weeks much the same way they did on the original budget.
“We had a phone caucus with our members. They are strongly in support of our moving forward in a bipartisan way as we did in the fall. And I expect the governor’s proposal would provide a framework for that deficit mitigation plan.”
Looney says lawmakers hope to be able to vote on an agreement in a special session in the first week of the new year.
Senate Republican President Len Fasano is critical of Malloy’s plan. He says the nearly $200 million of tax increases are a non-starter. Fasano says he looks forward to working with fellow legislators to outline what he calls a more appropriate course of action.
