Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

HARTFORD � On the surface, the Senate on Thursday approved a $35.71 billion blueprint to guide state finances for the next two fiscal years.

But upon closer review, that budget has a few blanks that need to be filled in. And according to some of its harsher critics, this fiscal blueprint isn�t just plagued by a few blanks � it has whole sections torn out.

Need to save $70 million? This budget would close two state prisons, but never states which facilities would be shut down.

The entire Special Transportation Fund, involving spending for the Transportation and Motor Vehicles departments, isn�t detailed in this budget, leaving a question mark of more than $1.1 billion.

The budget imposes a series of 10 percent and 20 percent across-the-board reductions on smaller state agencies, without specifying how those savings are to be achieved.

The executive branch is instructed to save $23 million over the next two years by reducing management by 10 percent.

The state would withhold $125 million in contributions to retiree health care programs for teachers and municipal employees, but doesn�t require cities and towns to make up the difference.

More than $240 million in new revenue would be raised from license, permit, and other fee increases. But the bill doesn�t identify them.

When pressed for details, Sen. Eileen M. Daily, D-Westbrook, said Democrats were trying to save money by not printing some 300 pages needed to outline the increases. Instead, she said, most of them are the same as those in a package Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposed in February, and can be found online in the governor�s budget.

Democratic leaders ripped minority Republicans in April for suggesting that state government could mitigate its fiscal problems by selling off some of its assets. House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, repeatedly questioned whether Republicans wanted to sell state beaches this summer, even though the minority party suggested selling airports, not parks or beaches.

But that didn�t stop Democrats from building a $112.5 million savings into their budget from the sale of assets � none of which are defined in the plan.

�It is an incomplete budget,� Rell, a Republican, said. �It contains so many holes � together with unachievable spending cuts � that new and higher taxes would be needed each and every year for years to come.

�All state budgets should be blueprints for the future,� the governor added. �This budget would construct an unstable foundation for Connecticut�s future.�

Sen. Daniel Debicella, R-Shelton, said that while the budget is unacceptable with its more than $2.5 billion in tax hikes, he�s not opposed to finding creative ways to cut spending. �But without details, it�s just a gimmick,� he added.

The prison closure plan drew an angry response from Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, who called it �preposterous.�

Connecticut�s inmate population has fallen over the past year from about 19,400 to just under 18,900. But Kissel added that less than a year ago he and other lawmakers were touring prisons that guards were describing as dangerously overcrowded.

How could this budget assume two facilities could be closed and big savings achieved, especially since the first of the two fiscal years in that budget begins on July 1, just five days away? Kissel asked.

�I hear grave doubts as to whether any of these numbers will be achieved,� he said.

But Democrats defended the less specific parts of their plan.

Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, co-chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said Democrats are trying to be creative in finding ways to shrink state government in tough fiscal times.

�We dove into that bureaucracy,� added Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn.