Senate Democratic leaders say a mid-year, budget-cutting plan up for a vote Tuesday begins the process of closing the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown and the Southbury Training School.
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Dannel P. Malloy is officially taking over as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Democrats said the plan, the details of which they did not release on Monday, incorporates ideas from the legislature’s minority Republicans. Duff said there’s a lot of agreement between legislative Democrats and Malloy on the proposal, which includes $350 million in cuts this fiscal year and $212 million in the next fiscal year.
Duff also said lawmakers must “try and inflict as little pain as possible to the things that we care about”, make smart decisions and balance the budget. Because the cuts are spread out over many agencies, programs will be “nicked rather than cut deeply, ” Looney said.
Even though voters ratified a cap in 1991, it has never been enacted, and the deficits continue to climb, WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau reported.
Lawmakers and Malloy promised in the new budget to share sales tax receipts with communities as well – but most of that new funding wouldn’t be delivered until next fiscal year. Fasano said there are about 68 youths at the facility, about 20 or 23 of whom are considered violent. Democratic lawmakers said part of the breakdown had to do with a constitutional amendment that enforces the state’s spending cap and eliminating state worker pensions for new workers in 2020. GOP leaders had hoped to make “structural changes” that would lessen the state’s debt over time.
While the General Assembly is expected to adopt a plan in special session Tuesday to close most or all of this fiscal year’s budget deficit, restore some funds for hospitals and finance modest business tax breaks, nearly 40 percent of the plan diverts resources from specialized funds and various one-time sources.
“This is a bi-partisan package”, Duff said.
“At least from a theoretical standpoint, we are in favor of the constitutional lock box as a caucus, ” Fasano said.
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Republicans have long favored the business tax changes on the unitary tax and various corporate tax credits.
