With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, Governor Dannel Malloy’s new budget proposal has spurred political uproar between him and Democratic leaders -- specifically Democratic Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey who called the revision a "personal hit list."
Speaking onWNPR’s Where We Live, Keith Phaneuf, a state budget reporter for The Connecticut Mirror, said the gridlock comes from legislation working to systematically alleviate current and future state deficits.
"What’s really driving the politics right now, as odd as it may seem, it’s actually the deficit that we have to deal with 14 months from now," Phaneuf said. "Everybody hears that the budget that begins on July 1 is --I’m going to use round numbers -- about $1 billion in the red. Well, the budget that begins in July of 2017 is more than $2 billion in the red. And every dollar of red ink that we get rid of this July is another dollar you don't have to deal with in the bigger deficit."
While making budget recessions, dialogue between Malloy and state Democrats deteriorated, said Phaneuf. Neither side is telling the whole story.
Democrats claim that the sales tax for transportation will not remain in that department because of future debts. Malloy has argued that money should be taken from towns now because the funds will be reneged in the next session anyway.
"Everybody has got something they want to keep," Phaneuf said. "The illusion is safe for at least, maybe another year, and then next January we tell everyone, 'sorry, transportation is not happening, that sales tax money for towns is not happening.'"
Phaneuf said the illusion also involves legislation to pay for town programs redirects funding from other programs.
"The problem is we have so much debt," Phaneuf said. "We have big bills coming in. They’re coming in every two years for about the next decade and a half. A lot of money is due in the short term. We don’t even have time to grow the economy between tax hikes, and that’s all that’s left."
Once again, new figures show this year's budget still may not be completely fixed. Budget director Ben Barnes said the state has a $141.4 million deficit for the fiscal year that ends on June 30.
Karelyn Kuczenski is an intern at WNPR. Tucker Ives and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
