(Watch) Sen. Kane: Latest budget news “is a bad April Fool’s joke .” (WFSB)

Article as it appeared on WFSB.com

WFSB 3 Connecticut

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) – Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is seeking $13 million from a number of state agencies.

The overall budget deficit is estimated at $190 million, according to a recent projection by Office of Fiscal Analysis recently projected
Malloy has made budget cuts three times since November.

Malloy said he is dealing with a deficit that keeps growing because revenues are dropping.

“The Comptroller’s estimates don’t take into account the budget rescissions announced today, although we had informed him they were coming. If it proves to be the case that we have to do deficit mitigation it will be part of the end-of-session budget negotiations,” Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 13.7 million in budget cuts will affect the office of early childhood, University of Connecticut, the Board of Regents and UConn Health Center.

“The constant deterioration of our position is a little unusual. Sometimes you see a big drop off and it bubbles and bounces along,” State Comptroller Kevin Lembo said. “Now we continuously sort of drop.”

Lembo said the biggest problem are quarterly income taxes that are down about $40 million.

“As we have assured CT residents, we will make the difficult but necessary decisions to keep our budget in balance. That said, the April tax receipts will determine whether further action is needed,” Barnes said.

The current deficit is estimated just more than $172 million, which is very close to triggering a mandatory deficit mitigation plan. The governor must deliver to legislature.

“This is a bad April Fool’s joke today because we have been talking about this for months,” State Sen. Rob Kane, who is a Republican on the appropriations committee, said. “That this should be addressed and others like senator Fasano have been asking this governor to address this issue.”

The only silver lining in this is that revenue from corporate taxes and the sales tax are over performing. But, it’s not enough to compensate or make up for quarterly income taxes. They may have to dip into the rainy day fund, which has about $500 million.

To read the full list of rescissions, click here.

Read more: http://www.wfsb.com/story/28694670/malloy-orders-137-million-more-in-mid-year-budget-cuts#ixzz3WBCOzGXI