Although Connecticut’s 2017 budget crisis may have come to an end when Gov. Dannel Malloy signed the bipartisan budget on Tuesday, the next budget promises to be just as difficult.
The nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis is already projecting a $4.6 billion deficit, largely due to the rapidly rising costs of pensions, retiree healthcare and debt service combined with declining tax revenue. Fixed costs now consume more than 50 percent of General Fund expenditures.