Connecticut made a historic $1.6 billion payment toward its $40 billion pension debt thanks to the state’s volatility cap, and that payment is expected to achieve significant savings over the next four years, according to […]
Connecticut lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont bridged a $3.5 billion biannual budget deficit during the 2021 legislative session, largely using federal COVID relief funds combined with some revenue and accounting adjustments the state has employed […]
Connecticut’s overtime costs rose $5 million over the course of fiscal year 2021, topping out at $239 million, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis. Despite declining numbers of incarcerated people in Connecticut’s prison system, […]
Connecticut’s fixed costs like Medicaid, debt service and retiree benefits continue to grow faster than state revenue and make up 52 percent of the state’s budget, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis. In fiscal […]
Gov. Ned Lamont submitted a budget proposal on October 1 that draws down Connecticut’s Rainy Day Fund by $1.8 billion, maintains the corporate surcharge tax and implements a hiring freeze to bridge a projected $2 […]
Budget numbers released by the Office of Fiscal Analysis show Connecticut’s budget deficit this year grew to over $1 billion, an increase of more than $687 million over the previous estimate. Gov. Ned Lamont had […]
The State of Connecticut and municipalities face a substantial burden – and now threat – from pension and retiree healthcare funds, as the stock market has plunged in recent weeks, which could leave taxpayers on […]
At a press conference before a public hearing on Gov. Ned Lamont’s bill to toll trucks, Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, presented the fiscal note for the bill, which states that the revenue […]
Connecticut’s current year budget deficit increased once again, rising another $66 million over the previous estimate and topping out at $96 million, according to a budget report for the Office of Fiscal Analysis. This marks […]
In 2008, Connecticut took out a $2 billion pension obligation bond in order to boost its teacher pension fund, which the state had underfunded for decades. The timing was calamitous as the country entered into […]
The Connecticut State Legislature will begin its 2023 session on January 4th and will adjourn on June 7th. The “long session,” as non-election years are called in Hartford, will be centered around the biennial budget. The Office of the State Comptroller reports that state government found a way to spend $47.11 billion in 2022 and, if trends continue, we can expect that number to grow even more going forward. Concerns over energy prices, inflation, and general cost of living continue to dominate the headlines and the threat of a recession hovers over economic forecasts.
What will our elected officials be working on to improve policy outcomes for Connecticut residents? What tax reform proposals will there be? What can be done to lower home heating bills? How will state and local budgets be affected by fewer federal resources? How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements?
While we wait to see the thousands of individual and committee bills that while dominate the myriad policy debates this year, Yankee Institute is hard at work promoting free-market solutions to the problems we face from Stamford to Putnam and Mystic to Salisbury. To that end, we have produced a new edition of our Charter for Change. The Charter provides commonsense reforms to make Connecticut’s government work for its residents.
Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! And that’s why we want to work with you to build a broad-based coalition to encourage sound policy reforms to enable Connecticut residents to forge a better future for themselves and their families.
It’s also imperative that we do so. As we noted in a report and CT Mirror op-ed last year, the debate over whether we’re in a national recession really misses the point for Connecticut residents. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. Our economy has grown at one of the slowest rates in the nation for the past decade, and we are getting outpaced year after year. We’re not attracting innovation and industry. We’re losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where it’s easier to make a living.
But together, we can reverse this trend.
At Yankee Institute, we know Connecticut is a state with boundless opportunity, and we intend to help make our state more than a place where people are just able to make ends meet! Connecticut should be a place where everyone can thrive – and with your help, it will be.