Bolinsky: Friday the 13th Budget is a Nightmare
The General Assembly passed another bad budget on Friday the 13th, an appropriate day to do something scary to Connecticut taxpayers and residents. I know their budget scares me, as does having the future of our state in the hands of leaders who don’t lead, despite our state being poised at the edge of a financial cliff.
As the rest of the nation is working through a slow economic recovery, Connecticut has been left behind. How can this be? Actually, the answers are right in front of our eyes. The Nutmeg State’s historical success and prosperity went beyond our natural beauty. We prospered as a state, as individuals and as businesses because people and employers wanted to be here. Quality of life was great and people from neighboring states came, set up homes, built businesses and raised families. Opportunity abounded because companies chose to locate or grow here. We were “business-friendly.” Near full-employment provided a strong financial base and easy state budgets to balance.
Fast forward to today. Years of prosperity led to cronyism, unchecked spending and abuse. We now spend more than we take in and have resorted to borrowing and financial deception to hide the imbalance in our budgets. Connecticut’s Democrats forgot what made this state great. They’ve reversed our fortunes, making this the place people and employers flee. They’ve taken us from affordable to unaffordable. They’ve disregard the principles of living within our means and not borrowing more than we can repay for 20+ years. Through patronage, excess, waste and an insatiable appetite for our tax dollars, they’ve murdered the goose that once laid golden eggs.
Connecticut passed the tax tipping point at least two record-Democrat-imposed tax increases ago, leading us to the unsustainable place we find ourselves today. Despite higher taxes, revenues are dropping like a rock. The Governor calls this our “new fiscal reality” but really, we’ve simply reached the point where he can longer hide the financial mess he and his budget-writers created. These leaders have forgotten how to lead and can’t figure out why the state is broke and more in the red with each of their budgets. Excuses abound. People leave. Companies leave. Revenues plummet. They concoct more creative ways to tax. More leave. Revenues fall. Deficits grow every year.
Stop the madness!
There is some good news. We can do better. My Republican colleagues and I built a budget and 5-year plan that protects core services and balances without raising taxes. Unlike the Democrat budget, our plan doesn’t cut education, municipal aid, social services, community hospitals, mental health, seniors, veterans, transportation and the safety net for disabled individuals. We proposed serious, structural budget changes to get Connecticut back on track. Too bad we weren’t afforded a seat at the table.
But we know this can be done and will continue pushing Connecticut along a “Pathway to Sustainability.”
In Friday’s budget debate, we introduced amendments to add real structural change to the budget. Some were: Mandatory legislative approval of union contracts; Gradual reductions in bonding; and Spending cap accountability. Despite obvious merits, all were rejected by the majority party. But we will fight on.
Permanent structural changes leading to smaller state government and lower taxes are how we will save Connecticut and reverse the outward migration of people, jobs and revenue. The old ways don’t work anymore. As a $20-billion business, Connecticut must relearn accountability and adopt best practices.
Legislative Democrats’ proudly declared their budget cut spending. Unfortunately, their one-time sweeps won’t create permanent change or a sustainable business plan. Our 5-year plan will. Their deepest cuts again came at the expense of society’s most vulnerable, slicing $7 million from mental health grants. Hospitals get slashed by $30 million. Substance abuse services are cut $1.7 million.
I voted against this budget. I cannot and will not be party to the Democrats’ refusal to enact real structural changes and long-term planning. Their Friday the 13th budget is a ruse to get us through the next election, after which, if left in the majority, they will raise taxes again. It happened in 2014 and 2012, it will happen again.