Rep. O’Dea Votes No On “Questionable” Budget

HARTFORD—State Representative Tom O’Dea (R-New Canaan, Wilton) voted against the Democratic budget in Saturday’s House session, citing the budget’s questionable revenue estimates and budget techniques. The House voted on the measure shortly after 10 p.m., and the budget passed without a single Republican vote.

The $19 billion budget introduced by the legislature’s majority Democrats has been roundly criticized for employing a number of gimmicks and suspicious budgetary maneuvers. The already shaky accounting in the budget was exacerbated earlier in the week when consensus revenue estimates showed that the expected $500 million surplus had dwindled to just over $40 million, after tax receipts came in far lower than had been projected earlier in the year.

“This budget continues us on a path of spending beyond our means,” Rep. O’Dea said. “We have fewer jobs in Connecticut than we had in 1990, and in 2012 we were the only State with negative growth. We have the highest per capita debt in the country, the second worst pension balance, and we were recently rated the worst place to retire in the entire country. Not only were the aforementioned problems ignored in the current budget, they were exacerbated.”

Although the budget is being presented as balanced, O’Dea noted that it relies on a number of improper assumptions, including:

• Counting $75 million in unspecified “miscellaneous” tax collections
• Expecting $143 million in budget lapses
• Ignoring $52 million in contractually obligated payments for retiree healthcare
• Delaying repayment of $196 million in economic recovery notes
• Raiding $18 million from the Special Transportation Fund
• Moving $65 million to accounts outside the general fund

“We cannot spend ourselves out of the current fiscal disaster,” O’Dea added. “I proposed a 10% across the board spending cut 2 years ago. This budget actually increases spending by 2.5%.  In addition to decreasing spending, we need to at least agree to a hiring freeze so that normal attrition rates will decrease the number of state employees.”

O’Dea and his fellow Republicans presented an alternative budget proposal earlier this month, and updated it on Thursday to reflect the drop in projected revenues.

The foremost goal of the Republicans’ plan was to undo the gimmicks and budgeting “techniques” that are present in the Democratic proposal. The Republican proposal included a number of spending cuts, along with a hard hiring freeze and travel ban for state workers. The plan also restored the Municipal Revenue Sharing Account and returned $18 million to the Special Transportation Fund.