WARNING: CONNECTICUT STILL IN DEFICIT

Senator McKinney Reminds Legislative Colleagues
They Still Owe $100 Million to the State Employee Pension Fund

Hartford, CT – State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney today issued the following statement in response to Consensus Revenue Estimate released by the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) which projects a $64 million surplus for Fiscal Year 2011:

“While the latest projections from OPM and OFA reflect a modest increase in revenue, the bottom line is Connecticut is still in deficit this year and more than $7 billion in deficit over the next three years. The legislature deferred a $100 million payment it owed to the State Employee Pension Fund in FY11. That means we still have a $36 million deficit this year. My recommendation to legislative colleagues will be to use our so-called $64 million ‘surplus’ to pay down the money we borrowed from retirees and begin looking for ways we can reduce spending in order to pay back the rest.”