Turns out saving at the pump isn’t great for everyone.
Governor Dannel Malloy will have to order a second round of budget cuts for fiscal year 2015 after the falling price of petroleum has contributed to a $120.9 million deficit, an $89.3 million increase from last month.
Ben Barnes, Office of Policy and Management Secretary, said Tuesday in his monthly letter to state Comptroller Kevin Lembo, that the “largest negative revision is in the Oil Companies Tax, down $24.8 million as collections from this revenue source are expected to fall significantly...”
Also contributing to the deficit is a $50 million net increase in the Medicaid deficiency.
Speaking on WNPR’s Where We Live, Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie said that by law, the budget rescissions can’t be huge, but the cuts will “come from places that will be painful because you have to take a little bit from each of these line items in order to get through it.”
While Malloy can cut up to five percent of any line item, and three percent of any fund without seeking legislative approval, Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano has reiterated his desire for Republicans to be at the table when discussing budget cuts, according to an article Stuart wrote Tuesday.
However, David Collins, columnist for The Day of New London, said it’s hard to see a bipartisan solution to the budget right now, also speaking on Where We Live.
“I think we're going to see Malloy find his way through it and all the hands go up. There doesn't seem to be a bipartisan solution anywhere and it's hard to imagine the senate president talking about one,” Collins said.
Unless the current deficit reaches the threshold of 1 percent of the general fund, Malloy doesn't have to submit a deficit mitigation plan to the General Assembly, but according to Stuart, that might be coming soon.
“Where we were at this time last year, Malloy was holding a press conference at the Derby city hall and he was trying to figure out a way to give $500 million back to taxpayers, and some of that was in the form of a $55.00 rebate, and that has disappeared. But now we're just talking about deficits, and that's all we're talking about,” Stuart said.
Ryan King is an intern at WNPR.
