Rutigliano Gives a State Budget – 5/10

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I’m writing with an update on the state budget.

As you’ve likely read, the fiscal year budget that begins July 1 is out of balance by more than $900 million. After ignoring the budget fix that my Republican colleagues and I offered, the governor and majority party Democrats waited until the last day of the legislative session to offer and hold a vote on their own plan. Their budget had yet to surface by mid-afternoon, and by early evening House Speaker Brendan Sharkey and Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz announced it was too big of a challenge to hold a vote by the midnight deadline.

With so much on the line, from school and municipal funding to cuts to core government services and potential state employee layoffs, this is a disservice to cities and towns whose leaders are struggling to complete and pass their own budgets and to taxpayers fed up with this haphazard, last-minute approach to budgeting.

The General Assembly will meet in special session in the near future soon to tackle the budget, and between now and then I’ll join my Republican colleagues in fighting for the type of structural budgetary changes included in our many proposals.

I’ll keep you updated about what transpires, and in the meantime feel free to contact me about this or any other state-related issue.

Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.