The Day

The Day

House approves $153.8M plan to c= ut deficit=

Published on 5/23/2009

Hartford - The House of Representatives voted along party lines Friday to approve a $153.8 million package of spending cuts and fund transfers to reduce the 2009 budget deficit despite objections from Republicans that the cuts weren't deep enough.

The package includes roughly $25 million in spending cuts, almost $19 million in fund transfers and $110 million in “sweeps” of fun= ding out of a variety of off-budget accounts into the General Fund.

The mitigation plan is a step forward for the legislature, Democrats s= aid, as it tries to wrestle its current-year deficit under control.

But the bill leaves an almost $820 million shortfall in the current fi= scal year, which ends June 30. That remaining deficit will be covered either through use of the state's budget reserve fund, or through borrowing, to allow lawmakers and Gov. M. Jodi Rell to apply the balance of the reserve fund to the coming fiscal years.

And Republican lawmakers also noted that the $110 million in funding sweeps identified to help close the deficit is far lower than the $220 million that Democrats pledged to find months ago from a variety of obscu= re accounts.

After months of pushing back the deadline to identify and enact those transfers, the value had been cut in half, said House Minority Leader Law= rence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk.

”Don't even count this step we're taking today as doing our part= to further mitigate the deficit,” Cafero said, “because you can't count something twice.”

The parties also clashed over a Republican amendment to strip between = $2.8 million and $3.7 million from a contingency account placed in the budget = for use by Rell and the legislative caucuses.

Rell has not spent her $2 million allocation, and about $844,000 and $1,500 remain in the Senate and House Democratic accounts, respectively. =

But that amendment was rejected over the complaints of some Republicans that the cut would enable legislators to avoid trimming more valuable soc= ial programs by cutting a pool of funding that will in all likelihood not be needed or used between now and the end of June.

”Everyone in the state is stepping up,” said Rep. Christop= her Coutu, R-Norwich, giving the example of a senior center in his district t= hat has cut its budget 20 percent to cope with its own shortfalls and reducti= ons in state aid.

”When do we actually start making those tough decisions,” Coutu said. “Think deeply on this, because you're going to have to = be explaining this to your constituents.”