"Now is the time to start setting ourselves on the fiscally prudent path."
Carol Platt Liebau
Connecticut’s fiscal crisis is making strange bedfellows. Two groups usually at opposite ends of the political spectrum came together recently, to ask legislators to think differently about saving for a rainy day.
Carol Platt Liebau of the conservative Yankee Institute had an unsurprising message for members of the finance committee.
"Now is the time to start setting ourselves on the fiscally prudent path, saving for the next rainy day," Platt Liebau told a budget forum, "instead of finding new ways to spend windfall revenues."
Meanwhile, sitting next to her on the same panel, was Nick DeFiesta of Connecticut Voices for Children, who also stuck to his familiar talking points.
"Reduced revenue volatility, a more stable budget, can only be good for spending on kids' programs," DeFiesta said, after outlining the priorities of the group.
"A more stable budget can only be good for spending on kids' programs."
Nick DeFiesta
Both believe their sometimes opposing aims can be helped by a plan from Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who for some time has been asking the legislature to change the way it contributes to the Rainy Day Fund, or what he'd like to term the Budget Stabilization Fund.
At the moment, the state waits until the last minute and sees what’s left over for the fund.
Lembo thinks that’s backwards. He wants to see deposits triggered automatically when receipts from certain volatile taxes hit a high point.
"It would enable us to see real deposits into the Budget Reserve Fund, when we have the money, and move it as a budget priority from a last or an afterthought, as it is now, up to the top of our thinking," Lembo said.
Lembo said that if this formula had been in place during the last two big recessions, the Rainy Day Fund might have been actually able to meet the budget shortfalls that precipitated fiscal crisis.
The breadth of support for his idea wasn’t lost on lawmaker Scott Frantz. "It’s great to see all of you representing a wide diversity of political spectrum, all agreeing on an issue," he said, smiling. "It’s wonderful. This is kind of a new thing for me."
Whether that support can carry Lembo’s formula over the legislative finish line this session remains to be seen.
