Gov. M. Jodi Rell challenged the legislature Wednesday to adopt $38 million in cuts to this fiscal year's budget to maintain the emergency winter heating assistance program at last year's level -- and to alleviate a $33 million shortfall legislators created by gambling on extra federal aid.
Writing to leaders of the Appropriations Committee, Rell suggested reductions to municipal aid and other popular programs involving early childhood education, tourism and economic development, environmental protection and mass transit.
But the proposed cuts also reached into more obscure areas traditionally avoided, touching everything from legislators' stationary to mileage and other expense reimbursements for lawmakers, judges and Executive Branch staff.
"Many of these dollars have not yet been spent," the governor wrote. "Some represent a partial reduction in funding for programs that can still operate well at lower levels."
The lame duck Republican governor has been locked in a battle with the Democrat-controlled legislature for two months now over the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Largely supported with federal dollars, LIHEAP helps low-income families pay for winter heating.
Rell urged lawmakers to tighten program eligibility and benefits in late September, anticipating reduced federal funding. Legislators opted not to do so, noting a projected 18,800 families would lose assistance and thousands more would receive reduced aid. LIHEAP helped a record-setting 82,956 households pay their heating and other energy bills last winter.
But legislators also declined to appropriate any additional state dollars for the program. The administration estimates that unless $33 million in new funding is found, all budget money will have been pledged to needy households by the end of November, leaving the Department of Social Services and the nonprofit community agencies that assist them unable to process any more requests for assistance.
The governor and legislature authorized $956 million in borrowing - rather than tax hikes or spending cuts - to prop up this year's $19.01 billion budget, a move that earned them bipartisan criticism from many candidates for state office this past fall, including Gov.-elect Dan Malloy.
Because last fiscal year's budget ended with a larger surplus than expected, Rell now estimates only about $650 million in borrowing is needed this year, and she opposes borrowing above that level to close the LIHEAP gap.
"Make no mistake," Rell wrote. "That is what we must do and what our taxpayers require of us in order to pay for fuel assistance at these higher, mandated levels."
Nearly half of the $38.9 million in cuts Rell proposed would affect town aid and related funding, traditionally one of the most politically sensitive components of the budget. Legislators haven't reduced town aid in the midst of the fiscal year since February 2003, when $43 million was cut as part of a much larger deficit-mitigation effort.
Rell's plan would cut $19.3 million, targeting grants that fund student transportation, health and welfare services for private-school pupils, and public libraries, as well as reimbursement to communities for lost property taxes tied to exempt manufacturing equipment.
"To cut municipal aid in mid-year would be unconscionable, as would be not finding a less destructive way of making sure people in need are kept warm this winter," James Finley, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said Wednesday.
Other major targets of cuts include:
The governor also recommended saving $2.5 million by cutting accounts for legislative stipends and mailings, and by reducing mileage and other expense reimbursements for all three branches of government.
Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, and Rep. John Geragosian, D-New Britain, suggested to the governor this week that additional funds for heating assistance could be found if the administration reined in overspending in several key agencies.
Rell's budget office reported $233.4 million in projected cost overruns spread across eight agencies, with nearly three-quarters of the problem tied to increased demand for social services.
Leaders of the Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate also have said they don't plan to call for a special session in December to appropriate additional funds and have said they hope funds can be transferred, temporarily from some other program.
While hard to swallow a mid-year cut, it is small compared to what is likely to come the following budget year. Gov.-elect Malloy hinted that cutting non-ECS state aid was very possible. ECS funding will likely also dip despite campaign promises to keep it level. For one year, possible ECS funding cuts could be mitigated with federal funding from the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. Despite the Gov.-elect's concern about property tax levels, the state spending cap could provide him cover to cut state aid to the towns next year as part of dealing with
Read MoreThe low income people who do not have to pay their own fuel bills keep the heat throughout the winter at 75-80 degrees F (burning hot), while others who have to foot their own bills keep the thermostat at 62 F. It is OK to cut the fuel subsidy and make the people receiving the fuel subsidy to keep the thermostat at 58 F and wear warm clothes, day and night. Those forefathers and piligrims that came to this country did not even have that luxury. Don't be a bleeding heart. Let people know how to survive and live in
Read MoreThis shows what a liberal state we live in. First worry about giving more to people by taking away something else. When they aren't doing it that way, they want to raise taxes to pay for it. Crazy thinking!
Yes, realkook, I agree with you. But, just as important as the fuel aide recipients learning how to keep their heat down, the legislators in this state better be going without that fancy letterhead!
Amazing how Realkook knows that people who receive heating aid always keep their thermostats at 78 degrees - must be a real psychic or a peeping tom. Perhaps Realkook is suggesting that the state hire thousands more to run around checking on aid recipients thermostats to keep them at the level he would like them to be.
Or perhaps he is just a gasbag busybody always complaining about what others do regardless of whether or not he has any facts.
PS: Great suggestion Redlady - big help getting rid of that fancy letterhead. Perhaps we'll save enough for another
Read MoreHey LazLong: Visit any of your medicaid and parasitic friends and come back and tell me what kind of heat they keep. If you give them a tankful of fuel, they know how to use it in just a few days, and then cry and complain how their houses are not getting enough heat. Let them sleep in sleeper bags until they get their next quota of oil. No sympathies here. Don't pretend to be a large hearted lady unless you yourself are abusing and exploiting the system to live an undeserved life.
Hey Realkook - what does medicaid have to do with thermostats? Realkook - your disdain for those with less shows your true colors. Your hatred and assumption of those who must take aid as cheats shows exactly what you would do under the same circumstances. My the taxpayers of Connecticut be spared should you ever qualify for aid.
Your assumption that anyone receiving aid is undeserving is cruel, selfish and wrong. Reminds me of another conservative who said "are there no prisons? no workhouses?"
Typical conservative - self hating soon to be tax cheats
Agreed. Although this will only save about 10-20% of the subsidary, every little bit counts and for the next several years the state needs to get to this level to make the cuts as least painful as possible.
LazLong wake up....the people who receive energy assistance are the same people who get medical assistance and the same people who get welfare and the same people who get any advantage the state offers. Add the subsidaries up and they effectively earn more than most struggling residents and they don't have to pay tax on it !!!!!!
Cutting the planned program for homeless youth is wrong. It can't be that we balance the budget on the backs of homeless youth. That plan only exacerbates the already burgeoning population of homeless adults and does nothing good for our state.
Susan Bysiewicz, Democractic candidate for U.S. Senate, during a debate with U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy.
"Susan has been using this tired line of attack for the last year and a half, and it hasn't worked."
Chris Murphy
Get the latest headlines right to your mobile
Visit m.ctmirror.org on your mobile device
FOLLOW US ON: 
CT Mirror is now well into its 3rd year. Since our launch on Jan. 25, 2010, we've published more than 4,000 stories and had 3.5 million web visits.
From the start, our goal has been to offer readers information on Connecticut policies and politics - and the personalities behind both - to help residents make the best decisions possible about their lives and those of their families.
PROUD SPONSOR
CT JOBLESS RATE
January 2011: 9.3%
February 2011: 9.2%
March 2011: 9.1%
April 2011: 9.0%
May 2011: 8.9%
June 2011: 8.9%
July 2011: 8.9%
August 2011: 8.8%
September 2011: 8.6%
October 2011: 8.5%
November 2011: 8.3%
December 2011: 8.1%
January 2012: 8.0%
February 2012: 7.8%
March 2012: 7.7%
April 2012: 7.7%
PROUD SPONSOR
Printer-friendly version
Send to a friend