Rell Follows Through With Veto
by Christine Stuart | July 1, 2009 1:56 PM
Posted to State Capitol
As promised Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell has vetoed the Democrats’ budget proposal saying, “It is neither balanced nor remotely realistic.”
The veto came Wednesday as she met privately at the governor’s residence with legislative leaders in an effort to craft a new two-year budget. According to sources, the two sides met for close to seven hours Tuesday, the same day Rell signed an executive order to continue state services without a budget in place.
Even though Democrats hold a majority in both the House and the Senate, their $35.58 billion budget proposal, which raised taxes $2.5 billion on the wealthy and businesses, didn’t win enough support for lawmakers to override a gubernatorial veto.
Further complicating matters, the fiscal year ended Tuesday with a $911 million deficit— despite efforts to mitigate the shortfall.
While revenue seems to have improved slightly, State Comptroller Nancy Wyman said Wednesday that the biggest drop was a $10 million dip in the payroll-withholding portion of the income tax. She said the state has lost more than 63,000 jobs since May 2008.
“Connecticut’s job picture has been in steady decline for more than a year and the income tax has bottomed out right along with it,” Wyman said in a press release.
According to Wyman, overall collections of the income tax, including capital gains payments, are down 15 percent from last year. The tax was expected to bring in about $7.6 billion, but will likely fall about $1.3 billion short of that estimate.
The sales tax, expected to produce about $3.7 billion, will bring in about $420 million less than projected. Taxes that corporations pay on profits are expected to fall about $200 million under the original estimate of about $790 million.
Comments (5)
Posted by: iBlogWestHartford | July 1, 2009 3:03 PM
Not to repeat myself again twice, BUT the gov says:
"Instead of reducing spending as families and businesses across Connecticut have done, Senate Bill 1801 does nothing to reduce the size or cost of a government that has outgrown the taxpayers' ability to pay for it. Rather, it pushes the pain of sacrifice off the state bureaucracy and onto the state's taxpayers. I cannot allow that to happen. Senate Bill 1801 calls for $2.5 billion in new taxes on the people and employers of Connecticut in the midst of the greatest global economic downturn since the Great Depression: exactly the wrong move at exactly the wrong time."
She means: "It pushes the pain of sacrifice off the state bureaucracy and onto the state's tiny percentage of people earning a half-million/yr or more."
SHE prefers:
Children with gum infections tossing and turning at night because can't see a dentist.
Skilled mothers sitting at home because there is no child care for thier kids.
Adults going without eye glasses.
Job training programs shutting down.
Eliminating inspectors that ensure state nursing-home patients aren't living in squalor.
Cutting a half-million dollars for treating prison inmates with debilitating mental illnesses.
Yanking money for community health centers, mostly used by low-income families.
Such a generous heart....
Posted by: Rocco Frank | July 1, 2009 7:30 PM
I think it is time to admit that perhaps the Climate Bill has come at a bad time.
One curious point is Hartford going to be exempt from its estimated 1.2 Billion Dollar Increase in energy costs?
I really Pray for CT that Hartford does not have to pay the Energy tax. If they do I feel sorry for this state come 2012.
Posted by: christine | July 2, 2009 8:38 AM
Democrats released this press release late Wednesday afternoon in response to Rell's veto message:
Democratic leaders today said they will continue to "fight for a fair budget that protects families and businesses already hit hard by the recession, and positions Connecticut for economic growth."
The Democratic leaders issued the statement in response to Governor M. Jodi Rell's message accompanying her veto of the Democratic budget passed by the General Assembly last week. Budget negotiations with Democratic and Republican legislative leadership and Governor Rell continued today at the Governor's Residence in Hartford.
Speaker Donovan and Senator Williams said, "It is unfortunate that the governor has decided to re-release her negative veto message at the same time that she's sitting at the negotiating table with us. It goes against the spirit of bipartisanship that we have all worked hard to cultivate these last several days."
The Democratic budget passed last week cuts billions of dollars in spending at virtually every level of government. It also included cost saving ideas proposed by legislative Republicans and Gov. Rell's own administration - ideas that the governor has since criticized in her veto message.
Gov. Rell's veto message also indicates she opposes asking the state's wealthiest residents to be part of the solution. The Democratic budget ensures that 95 percent of Connecticut taxpayers would see no increase in their personal income taxes. The increase in the budget only applies to joint filers earning more than $500,000 annually.
Speaker Donovan and Senator Williams said, "We are asking citizens across our state to share the responsibility for necessary spending reductions and new revenues. We will continue to reach across the aisle and work toward an agreement, never losing sight of what we're fighting for. We will not allow Gov. Rell to simply balance the budget on the backs of low and middle income families."
Posted by: Sean | July 2, 2009 10:25 AM
Christine, I think it would really help all of us if you could get the budget leaders to sit down and tell you exactly what is being cut, or not cut in each budget. What are the big programs being targeted by the Republicans and exactly what services being eliminated are the most important. I saw the Jim Lehrer News Hour's story about how Rell used $541 mn in federal funds for education to substitute for the same amount of state funds she cut. But I haven't seen a single local story talking about how she did that.
We really need more details about what's going on. The previous poster gave us a lot of information. Why not point out how much Rell proposes to borrow and from what? The story is just not being told by the press. Certainly not by Ken Dixon, your sometime fellow guest on OTR, who wrote previously, "If you like the current fiscal crisis, thank a Democrat." Sorry, Christine, but he has zero credibility with any Democrat in this state after that stupid statement.
Posted by: nomorebureaucracy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| July 2, 2009 10:41 AM
"It goes against the spirit of bipartisanship that we have all worked hard to cultivate these last several days."
Did they write a proof of this quote while standing on the helipad? Maybe at the library, or at the zoo. Maybe at the many courthouses or at the bus stop.
Please. These two are about to surpass Amann with his dim quotes quota.