By Keith M. Phaneuf and Arielle Levin Becker
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration confirmed today the downward trend in state revenues — though not the precise numbers — that nonpartisan analysts reported earlier this week.
While the governor never used the word “layoff,” he told reporters today that state government’s workforce must shrink considerably soon, and that the next state budget, for the 2016-17 fiscal year, still must be balanced without tax hikes.
And Malloy’s budget chief, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes, told legislators today that the administration has been monitoring negative trends in state income tax receipts since mid-January. The administration’s decision not to report this before today prompted one Republican on the legislature’s tax-writing panel to call the choice “reprehensible.”
“I think there’s a bigger downside than there is an upside” to state tax revenues at this time, Malloy told reporters after a press conference to promote a constitutional amendment to protect state funding for transportation.
