Thousands of State Jobs May Be Cut, Connecticut Gov. Says

He also proposed scaling back plans to divert some sales tax revenues to reduce property taxes.

The General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a bipartisan plan on March 29 afternoon to close most or all of the current year’s budget deficit, immediately shifting the legislature’s focus to a far larger projected shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Editor’s note: On Tuesday, April 12, Governor Malloy released his revised budget proposal for the 2017 fiscal year which eliminates 2,500 state positions and includes spending cuts for hospitals and education (for some schools, including Ridgefield, Malloy proposes to cut all state funding).

The American Federation of Teachers, AFT Connecticut and Council 4 AFSCME, two unions that represent more than 22,000 state employees, began running ads on radio and online in hopes of persuading Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his administration “to stop firing people” and instead impose higher taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers.

Malloy’s new plan comes days after legislative Democrats forwarded tax and spending plans that only covered a $570 million deficit.

Gian-Carl Casa, undersecretary for legislative affairs at the state Office of Policy and Management, told the Hartford Courant the employees will be paid a salary and state-provided benefits will be available until the end of the contractual notice period, meaning six weeks.

However, he said, there will need to be significantly more than 1,000 layoffs, and perhaps as many as 2,000, in order to bring the state budget into balance. There are another 147 layoffs expected by the Department of Correction, but no official notice beyond an announcement from the commissioner has been given to those employees.

The layoff notices went out Monday to some employees and will continue for some time, the Connecticut Post reports.

The administration, however, has not provided a number of expected layoffs, saying it’s still trying to determine how many workers may retire.

Republican lawmakers said Mr. Malloy’s plan didn’t make the long-term cost cuts that the state needs. The layoffs included union and non-union workers.

The legislature’s Office of Fiscal Analysis had projected next fiscal year’s deficit to be as much as $933 million.

The president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, Lori Pelletier, questioned Malloy’s determination to lay off state employees.