Governor M. Jodi Rell today issued the following statement after the General Assembly completed legislative action on a deficit mitigation plan for fiscal year that ends June 30:
“I am pleased the Legislature has finally taken action. Given the economic problems that continue to burden both our nation and our state, the deficit for this current fiscal year is likely to continue to grow – so every dollar saved is critical.
“Nevertheless, in many ways the bill passed tonight falls short. The original intention of this session was to pass a retirement incentive plan to reduce the state payroll. The deficit mitigation bill claims the savings from that plan – yet no plan was passed tonight and any such plan requires legislative action.
“In addition, my budget office believes that many of the ‘fund sweeps,’ intended to transfer $220 million into the General Fund, cannot happen because the money is either not there or is restricted to certain uses – and the majority Democrats know this very well.
“At the same time, this bill does make strides toward reducing a deficit that has lingered for far too long. The bill does not rely on any tax increases, nor does it reduce funding for education or to the Connecticut Development Authority for job creation – provisions I insisted on changing. The proposal to place the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security within the Department of Public Safety, which would not have saved any money, was also dropped.
“We must work in a bipartisan manner to resolve not only this year’s budget shortfall but the much larger gap that we face in the next two years. Difficult choices remain to be made. These choices are already being made by Connecticut families and employers. The Legislature must follow suit.”