While the governor and his fellow Democrats leading the House and Senate declared fiscal stability and pledged to continue trying to bolster municipal budgets, GOP legislative leaders cited projected deficits, a bond rating downgrade and cash flow problems as evidence of another impending fiscal crisis.
Read moreThe governor wants to encourage regionalizing by cutting back on how much the state sends to the smallest school districts. Tiny Canaan, for example, spends $22,450 for each of its 139 students, the most expensive per-student spending in the state.
But Canaan First Selectwoman Patricia Ally Mechare says regionalizing doesn't necessarily save money and argues that her town is "being responsible by spending what it takes, while the state hasn't."
Read moreLeaders of Connecticut's small towns were left to read the fiscal tea leaves Wednesday as state leaders offered starkly contrasting views of Connecticut's finances: Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative Democrats declared fiscal stability and pledged continued support, while GOP legislative leaders cited projected deficits, a bond-rating downgrade and cash flow problems as evidence of an impending crisis.
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The state is poised to open its employee health plan to municipalities and school districts, a controversial concept long advocated by labor unions, town officials and Democratic legislators.
Connecticut's economic recovery should continue this year, although a new study warns that a host of wild cards, from sovereign debt in Europe to the bioscience initiative in Farmington, could accelerate growth even more -- or leave the Nutmeg State's productivity lagging behind the nation's.
The Office of Policy and Management this afternoon backed off its proposal in the revised fiscal 2013 budget to have the state's major arts and cultural organizations compete for the money they have traditionally received as an earmark.
Instead, Secretary Benjamin Barnes indicated in a statement that the Department of Economic and Community Development will develop a phased-in approach.
The state's clean elections watchdog agency says it has enough funding to provide public grants for this fall's state elections, but not enough to monitor how candidates qualify for and spend the money.
"The facts are stark," said Michael J. Brandi, the agency's executive director.
Read moreWaves of retired teachers once covered by their districts' health plans are opting to get insurance through the state's less expensive policy.
If Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has his way, his budget will slow this migration by increasing the cost the state's 32,000 retired teachers and spouses would pay to join the state's health plan. Almost two-thirds of the state's retired teachers get insurance through the state.
Majority Democrats in the state Senate announced a multi-tiered initiative Wednesday to better safeguard electric service and to hold Connecticut's utilities accountable through new performance standards and penalties.
The proposal includes a $300 million state investment over the next decade to create "microgrids" -- sections of community centers with extra safeguards to ensure electric service remains available for grocery stores, gasoline stations and other vital service providers during large-scale outages.
Arts organizations in Connecticut had been feeling the love from the Malloy administration: a new home in the Department of Economic and Community Development, leadership that seemed to care what they had to say, new programs, and not insignificantly -- more funding.
But not after last week.
The unusually mild winter might have flummoxed forecasters, frustrated ski buffs and worried those concerned about climate change, but so far, it's been a critical break for poor families relying on a reduced pot of government assistance to pay for heat.
More than 70,000 Connecticut households took advantage of a new tax credit for the working poor during just the first month of state income tax filings, according to the Department of Revenue Services.
The claims filed under the new state Earned Income Tax Credit were hailed both by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration and a leading private, nonprofit anti-poverty group as evidence of the new program's necessity as well as its success.
When animated television tyke Lisa Simpson had to announce a tax increase to the American public, she deftly called it a "temporary refund adjustment," avoiding any mention of the three-letter T-word.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration stole a page from The Simpsons last week, repackaging a projected deficit in his new budget as a conditional surplus -- all without using the D-word.
A year after building the largest fiscal security blanket in more than two decades of state budgets, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy moved onto the fiscal high wire without a net.
Malloy spoke decisively Wednesday about finding spending cuts to keep his $20.7 billion plan for 2012-13 in balance, but lawmakers and the state's chief business lobby balked at the plan's barely visible margin for error.
Read morePhotography by Uma Ramiah
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Senator McKinney, Representative Cafero, my fellow state officials, ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, honored members of the Judiciary, members of the clergy, honored guests, and all the citizens of our great state who are watching or listening today, thank you. Thank you for the honor of inviting me into the people's House to address you.
The health and human services portions of Malloy's proposed budget adjustments include money to support an effort to move people out of nursing homes, add three childhood vaccines to the state's program and offer the first funding boost in five years to private human services providers.
The administration also intends to move ahead with plans to seek permission from the federal government to add enrollment restrictions and scale back benefits in a Medicaid program for low-income adults without minor children, a move that has drawn criticism from advocates and some key lawmakers.
Read moreGov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled a revised, $20.73 billion budget plan for the next fiscal year, adding nearly $330 million in spending over the preliminary budget, largely to fund additional education aid for towns and to bolster the state employees' pension fund.
After recent retirements, the state Department of Social Services is relying on retirees hired back through a vendor for information technology work -- so much so that the commissioner has warned that a potential ethics opinion discouraging the practice could lead to "a threat to public health, safety and welfare."
Whatever new initiatives Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveils Wednesday in his revised budget for the next fiscal year, he likely won't be asking for much extra staffing to carry them out.
Municipalities can't afford to take much more from their public works, police and fire, and other non-education departments.
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"This is an investment worthy of being made."
Gov. Malloy to charter school students who had been bused to the Capitol Tuesday evening to thank him for proposing an increase in funds for charters.
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