By Mark Pazniokas and Keith M. Phaneuf

www.ctmirror.org

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy set the stage in his 2017 State of the State address today for a protracted and difficult debate on how to further shrink state government, extract more concessions from unions on pension and health benefits, and better focus a smaller pool of state aid for education on the systems most in need. 

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy delivers his State of the State message today. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jacqueline Rabe Thomas for Ctmirror.org

After recently negotiating significant changes to how the state will pay down its unfunded pension liability, Malloy alerted a half-dozen labor leaders before the speech that he will be seeking unspecified concessions that he says must be part of “a responsible and balanced solution to our budget problem.”

“These changes can and should be reached respectfully, and at the bargaining table,” Malloy told a joint session of the General Assembly. “Our state must honor its legal obligation to our public servants and state retirees, while at the same time keeping our promises to Connecticut taxpayers.”

In his seventh speech marking the opening of a General Assembly session, the Democratic governor eschewed his usual practice of pitching new initiatives, instead emphasizing concessions, the size of government and local aid as three broad areas he sees dominating a session certain to hinge once again on the struggle to the balance the budget in a state not fully recovered from the Great Recession of 2008.

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On the eve of the opening of this year’s legislative session in Hartford, the League of Women Voters of Westport tonight hosted a two-hour “Pie and Politics” pizza session at the Veterans of of Foreign Wars Post in Westport attended by about 30 persons. The town’s four state representatives—Sens. Toni Boucher, Tony Hwang, and Reps. Jonathan Steinberg and Gail Lavielle —agreed that the session would be different since for the first time since 1893, Republicans and Democrats hold equal number of seats in the State Senate. They also unanimously condemned the cut in state education aid to Westport midway through the fiscal year and promised to work to free the town from costly state education mandates. “It’s ridiculous to have to use some (state-mandated) software system,”  said Steinberg, citing one example. “It doesn’t make sense at all.”  Said Hwang of the Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) state aid sytem: “No forumula, no predicability, no transparency.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

The governor’s budget office said today Westport’s Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) aid from the state would be cut an additional $443,947, bringing the total reduction from the previous fiscal year to $1,517,602. In addition, Westport will see a $146,394 reduction in its Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCIP) grant. While every town is touched by the $50 million in reductions, the cuts to education largely fall on the state’s wealthiest communities. Administration officials said the cuts had to be made now to achieve the savings goals included in the current 2016-17 state budget. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Ctmirror.org graphic

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

City and town leaders today learned how much less the state will be sending their municipalities for education and construction projects for the fiscal year that ends July 1.

[The Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) aid to Westport would be cut an additional $443,947, bringing the total reduction from the previous fiscal year to $1,517,602. In addition, Westport will see a $146,394 reduction in its Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCIP) grant.]

The $50 million in midyear cuts announced by the governor’s budget office come after the legislature adopted a budget with $20 million in unassigned cuts to municipalities and $30 million from grants for local construction projects.

While every town is touched by the reductions announced today, the cuts to education largely fall on the state’s wealthiest communities.

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