Governor Dannel Malloy hasn’t yet ruled out cuts to municipal aid as he prepares his budget proposal.
The governor spoke before a meeting of the Council of Small Towns Wednesday. Afterward, he told reporters that it’s going to be a difficult budget round, but final decisions haven’t been made.
"We have to make reductions in expenditures," he said. "Exactly how that plays itself out is being worked on, on a daily basis. There's a lot of hard choices that we have to make, but we have to live within our means. We have to give predictability to folks, and we have to have a sustainable program."
Many communities are deeply concerned about the potential effects of further state cuts, which were already signaled with a mid-year cut to educational cost sharing payments.
Toni Harp, the mayor of New Haven, said that if the legislature does end up approving cuts, it needs to give cities a way to recoup the money.
"In other cities, there are local income tax, there are local assessments that we are not allowed to make," said the mayor. "And I can't afford a cut, so if they're going to cut state funds they've got to give us the ability to raise others so that we can provide the services that people depend upon in our city."
The governor presents his budget in early February.
