Rep. Zupkus Reacts to Governor’s Budget Proposal

HARTFORD- Lawmakers in the General Assembly were introduced today to Governor Dan Malloy’s budget proposal that passes the buck on to towns and middle-class families. State Rep. Lezlye Zupkus said the Governor’s budget is forcing towns to bail out the state and lacks real long-term structural changes.

“These radical policy changes by the Governor will have an adverse impact on our local municipalities, hospitals, and all Connecticut families,” said Rep. Zupkus. “We have already seen similar budgets produced by the Governor that rely heavily on hope and prayer. I will be working with my colleagues this session to provide alternatives that will create real long-term structural changes.”

The budget eliminates the property tax credit for homeowners, makes significant changes to the state’s Education Cost Sharing formula, which will slash funding to our local school districts, and forces towns and cities to tax hospitals by $250 million through the elimination of PILOT funds.

Earlier this week, House and Senate Republicans released their proposal to reinstate nearly $20 million in education funding that was cut mid-year to cities and towns throughout the state. The proposal would also eliminate the projected fiscal year 2017 budget deficit.  In the two year budget passed in 2015 the majority party Democrats built in a $20 million per year cut to municipalities. In 2016 they eliminated the cut from the budget, but the governor used a line-item veto to put the cut back in, which he made in December.

The budget process now begins, and members of the General Assembly have until the end of the session, June 7th, to pass a budget.

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