By Keith M. Phaneuf

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said repeatedly that all of the budgets legislative caucuses have proposed are so flawed he would veto them.

But the Malloy administration conceded this week that there are some holes in the governor’s budget as well — worth more than $120 million.

The $40.6 billion, two-year budget Malloy unveiled on May 15 effectively assumes $46.7 million in labor savings in the first year and $74.5 million in the second that the administration now acknowledges it can’t achieve — at least as originally planned.

Why? Because those cost-saving measures — which largely involve reducing staff and closing and consolidating facilities — would require layoffs that would be prohibited for four years under the concessions deal pending before state employee unions.

By Keith M. Phaneuf

Connecticut’s prospects of enacting a state budget — even a provisional one — before the new fiscal year begins July 1 appeared to slip away late Monday night as House and Senate Democrats were unable to agree on a path forward.

After closed-door talks between House and Senate Democrats bogged down over several issues, including a potential sales tax hike and labor concessions, House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz of Berlin, notified his fellow Democrats they should not expect to vote on a provisional budget Thursday.

The speaker had asked Democrats, who hold a slim 79-72 edge in the House, to hold open Thursday for a possible budget vote.

Aresimowicz refused to discuss details of the negotiations, but he confirmed today that he doesn’t anticipate a budget vote at this time.

By Keith M. Phaneuf

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities is pressing state officials to deliver a budget that protects cities and towns, unveiling a television commercial today that suggests the legislature’s inaction could cost people their homes.

The 30-second spot, which will air through the rest of the month on network affiliates and Cable News 12 in Fairfield County, urges officials to revisit a state budget stabilization plan local leaders developed back in January.

The ad mingles concerns raised by unnamed home and business owners with responses from municipal leaders, who drew contrasts of responsive local officials with deadlocked legislators.

“High property taxes are going to cause me to lose my home,” one woman says as the ad opens. A second asks “Why can’t government be more efficient?”

By Keith M. Phaneuf

For more than 100 years, Connecticut has periodically grappled with what to do when the fiscal year begins and a new budget is not in place to greet it.

But with just 15 days left in the outgoing fiscal year — and a $2.3 billion deficit looming after that — gridlocked legislators’ inability to adopt a new budget has huge repercussions across a wide spectrum.

Big question marks already hang over some social services for children, the poor and disabled, as well as certain aid to cities and towns.

And Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has warned legislators for several weeks now not to force him to run the state without a new budget in place, already has said he considers that option a “worst-case scenario,” and that legislators should as well.