Sen. Len Fasano: Governor’s hesitation jeopardizes state’s future [NH Register]
April 6, 2015Connecticut has a deficit.
It’s a serious problem everyone saw coming. Everyone except the governor saw it.
Since November, Republicans have warned repeatedly that Connecticut was facing a deficit. We shared our concerns each month, but as our voices grew louder and the deficit grew bigger, the governor’s blinders continued to shroud his judgment.
Instead of addressing the problem, and instead of taking legislators up on their offer to develop a solution together, Gov. Dannel Malloy waited.
First, he waited for it to get worse. That happened. Then, he waited for holiday sales to make it better. That didn’t happen. Now, all hopes are pinned on how much the state can get back from April tax receipts. And it doesn’t look good.
“The April tax receipts will determine whether further action is needed,” said the governor’s budget director, Ben Barnes, after the governor ignored Democratic Comptroller Kevin Lembo’s request this week to take action and involve the legislature.
But while the governor is banking on huge tax returns, “An increase of this scope has not occurred in the last decade,” Lembo warned Malloy in March.
We would all love to see high revenues magically appear this month, but that’s not likely. And if that doesn’t happen, only two options to close the deficit remain: borrow money or drain the rainy day fund.
Borrowing funds would set Connecticut back and add to our already incredibly high debt. More debt means more burdens on taxpayers, employers and families. On the other hand, draining the rainy day fund will leave us completely vulnerable to whatever struggles may lie ahead, and right now it looks like Connecticut’s future budget could be in even bigger trouble than the current one.
It’s infuriating because it shouldn’t have come to this. Republicans and nonpartisan staff saw a growing problem and spoke up. Eventually, even Democrats urged the governor to heed our warnings. We asked to start the conversation and work through potential solutions together. But each day that passed with no plan in place only added to the deficit.
By making small rescission cuts here and there instead of formulating a long-term plan, the governor had to know it would come down to a very hard choice in the end. But he still chose to kick the can down the road, and now the state is moving backward. It’s mind-boggling. In the words of Malloy’s own budget chief, “we have a horrible budget situation.”
There is a long and difficult road ahead of the state legislature to develop a budget for 2016 and 2017, and that road will only get bumpier if this year’s deficit is closed by adding to our debt or running our reserves dry.
The governor has checked out. He’s focused on his national political image, not what’s in the best interest of our state. And because of Gov. Malloy’s hesitation, Connecticut has run out of options.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano represents the 34th District towns of Durham, East Haven, North Haven and Wallingford. For more information visit www.senatorfasano.com.