Reps. Piscopo, Wilson Unveil Revised No-Tax-Increase Budget Proposal

HARTFORD- State Representatives John Piscopo (R-76) and David Wilson (R-66) joined their House Republican colleagues last week to issue their revised no-tax-increase budget for 2018-19 that eliminates the projected $5 billion budget deficit, increases school funding for all towns, reduces the corporate surcharge and mitigates municipal aid losses by reallocating funds.

“It is time for leadership in this state and my House Republican colleagues and I are ready to lead. This is a budget that does exactly what taxpayers continue to ask for – it DOES NOT raise taxes and it closes our ballooning $5.1 billion state budget deficit. It does not increase our state spending and caps our state borrowing, while holding our towns and municipalities harmless and increasing educational funding. I am hopeful that the majority party democrats and the governor’s office will consider our proposal as the taxpayers of Connecticut cannot afford one more penny in tax increases,” said Rep. Piscopo.

“Under our House Republican budget proposal, the 66th district will see an increase in education funding in the coming biennium, as opposed to the governor’s proposed budget, which cuts current educational funding levels by $2.8 million each year for the next two years. Taxpayers deserve better and I will continue to fight for educational funding for our district,” said Rep. Wilson.

In this current proposal, Republicans revert back to the former Education Cost Sharing formula, while also adding $20 million to the distribution.  In addition, the proposal establishes a $90 million grant in order to ensure that no municipality loses aid compared to the current fiscal year.

Other structural changes include:

• Implements a strict Constitutional Spending Cap
• Reduces bond issuance cap from $2 billion to $1.3 billion for each fiscal year
• Ensures municipalities are held harmless
• Establishes a wage freeze for state employees, but no layoffs

Republicans now join Democrats and Gov. Malloy at the negotiating table to come up with a final budget plan that can pass both the House and Senate.

For more information on the House Republican budget proposal, please visit www.cthousegop.com/budget.                                                                  ###