Milford Reps Support Revised Budget Plan

From the Connecticut General Assembly:

Milford/Orange State Reps. Charles Ferraro (R-117) and Pam Staneski (R-119) stood in strong support with their Republican colleagues in the Connecticut General Assembly on Monday, April 25, proposing a revised 2017 budget that closes the state’s projected $935.7 million deficit, protects Milford education funding, restores core social services and implements long-term structural changes to the state budget. The plan, "Pathway to Sustainability," includes savings that roll out throughout the next five years, mitigating future projected budget shortfalls.

Rep. Ferraro, who is on the budget–writing Appropriations Committee, said,” For the first time since Gov. Malloy took office, our Pathway to Sustainability represents a PLAN for the future, not periodic, stopgap measures that inevitably lead to more deficits and tax increases. This plan protects our state’s most vulnerable citizens which was an essential for me to support.”

Staneski said, “Clearly, we cannot continue down the current path that we have been taking. Our proposal is truly one that changes that direction by providing stability to our towns and stops the political hostage holding of those core services that we value—education, mental health and our hospitals. This represents the sensible governing we were sent to Hartford to champion.”

The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates that if the current budget practices continue, the state will rack up huge deficits throughout the next five years, ranging from nearly $1 billion to more than $3 billion annually.

This plan includes a line-by-line budget to mitigate the fiscal year 2017 deficit as well as long-term structural changes. Together, these policy changes roll out into future years to mitigate ballooning deficits on the horizon. Following 2017, this budget proposal is projected to produce annual surpluses, with a cumulative total of more than $1 billion.

The proposed Republican budget would restore funding to core social services Democrats have proposed cutting this year, while also making needed cuts and implementing new policies that generate long-term savings. This includes the following: restores education funding for towns and increases statutory grants to municipalities, preserving funding at 100 percent for car tax capping and implements a robust municipal mandate relief package while maintaining funding throughout the next five years; protects funding for social services in order to preserve the safety net of services for the disabled, those with mental health needs, children, the elderly and those in poverty; restoration of support for hospitals and Medicaid reimbursements; administrative reductions to enable the state to protect funding for core services, cutting specific, non-service accounts by 12 percent for a total savings of $157.5 million; legislative givebacks, including legislative salary reductions and elimination of unsolicited mail; modifications to debt service and a cap on state bonding; funds transportation development with “Prioritize Progress” - a no tolls/no tax increases plan; implements long-term structural changes to the state budget, including mandatory voting by the legislature on labor contracts, overtime accountability protocols, as well as caps on spending and bonding. It also prices out savings from changes to unionized state employee health and pension benefits in order to offer an alternative to layoffs should unions come to the negotiation table.

Further information about the Pathway to Sustainability budget plan is available online.