Zupkus Opposes Budget Adjustments from Malloy, Democrats

HARTFORD — State Rep. Lezlye Zupkus today voted against a budget from Gov. Malloy and legislative Democrats that relies on gimmicks to keep the state’s two-year budget in balance, including an 11th hour plan to collect $75 million tax revenue from people who haven’t paid their taxes.

Lawmakers were in Hartford to tweak the 2014-15 budget—the second year of the roughly $40 billion biennial plan adopted by Democrats last spring. The adjustments to the $19 billion budget, approved by a 91-55 vote Saturday night, were branded “gimmick-laden” by the Capitol news media. The plan relies on roughly $200 million in sweeps from dedicated funds to the general fund, including another $2.1 million beyond the $18.5 million taken last year from the Special Transportation Fund used for projects such as road and bridge repair.

“Rather than improving our state’s financial position these types of accounting gimmicks simply push our problems into the future, and this latest plan all but ensures that the governor and legislature after Election Day will have a whopper of a headache to deal with,” Zupkus said, referring to the looming $1.4 billion deficit projected by non-partisan analysts.

The biggest gimmicks in the Democrats’ budget adjustment are $20 million in savings from unspecified “hiring reductions” and a last-minute projection of $75 million in “miscellaneous tax revenue,” which would come from a fresh pursuit of tax delinquents using new collection methods. Nonpartisan analysts couldn’t verify whether the collection process would work. Zupkus compared both schemes to the “state employee suggestion box” touted as a budget-balancing tool two years ago; that plan failed to produce $90 million in savings promised by Gov. Malloy.

Relying heavily on uncertain savings and revenues is particularly troublesome, Zupkus said, because of sagging state revenues. Earlier this week consensus revenues between the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) showed a precipitous drop in anticipated tax revenue to the state by approximately $460 million. This forced Democrats to abandon plans to contribute additional money to the state employee pension fund and send a $55 rebate check to each taxpayer just before Governor Malloy stands for re-election.

“Most people I know, people in the communities that I represent, will probably agree that relying on folks who have proven to be unreliable taxpayers to pony up $75 million is a desperate tactic,” Zupkus said. “This is a heck of a gamble.”

The Democrats’ budget also uses $30 million of one-time surplus, and moves $5.8 million in expenditures to bonding. They also make the budget appear balanced on paper by moving items outside of the General Fund.

Zupkus joined her Republican colleagues in supporting a transparent alternative budget adjustment which was balanced. It included saving $5.6 million through a hard hiring freeze, banned travel by state employees, and reduced the legislature’s budget by $5 million while not adding to the projected $1 billion budget deficit. The Republican budget plan restored funding to critical programs such as re-dedicating $18.4 million to the Special Transportation Fund, and $19.6 million to the Clean Energy Fund which had been removed by Democrats.

The Republican adjustments were offered as an amendment, and they were defeated on a party-line vote of 92-52.