If you wish to
be added to FCTOs email list, please write at fctopresident@aol.com.
BREAKING NEWS
Excerpt: The revised budget includes no tax increases and rejects the governors proposal to shift teacher pension costs onto towns
and cities that would further burden municipalities and lead to increased
property taxes. The Republican budget proposal
combines elements of the Senate and House Republicans multiple prior budget
proposals, feedback from Democrats, and factors in the legislatures
passage of the state employee labor concessions deal that is now law. The
original Republican budget was first released in April and updated throughout
the year as the states financial situation changed.
Connecticut is at a crossroads and we are facing one of the greatest financial
challenges our state has ever seen. In this time of hardship, it is imperative
that we send a clear message to the people of Connecticut that we are moving our state in
a new direction. We cannot do that with a budget that increases taxes by nearly
$1 billion and continues the same policies that have failed our state in the
past. We have to rebuild peoples confidence in Connecticut by sending a strong message that
we are pursuing change, said Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven) and House Republican Leader Themis Klarides (R-Derby). Connecticut
Republicans are once again offering a complete, balanced budget proposal that
does exactly that. We are offering structural changes to achieve savings in the
long term. We are prioritizing funding for the core functions of government,
education, transportation and services for individuals with disabilities. We
are fairly funding education with a real formula that factors in population,
poverty, and need. We are creating stability and predictability for our cities
and towns. And we are doing all this by making strategic reductions in the size
of government, not by increasing revenue with new taxes on the backs of working
and middle class families or our states healthcare providers. Continue
reading athttp://ctsenaterepublicans.com/2017/09/senate-house-republicans-release-revised-no-tax-increase-state-budget-proposal/#.Wbksp9E9K1s
State aid: See how your town fares under Malloys latest budget
By CTMirror.org reporters Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Keith M. Phaneuf
In the biggest change,
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Friday offered a much more
restrained redistribution of state education aid dollars from better-off
communities to impoverished ones. Add all the cuts together, and overall state
aid for municipalities would be cut by $198 million or 8%. Continue Reading
And as
CTNewsJunkie.com just reported
A Cellphone Surcharge? Its Just One Revenue Idea
In order to balance
the budget that Democratic lawmakers are negotiating with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, they will need to fill a hole that
amounts to $87 million in 2018 and $133 million in 2019. As of
Tuesday night there was no definitive plans for how that would happen, however,
sources confirmed they were exploring a $1 per month surcharge on cellular
phone plans. Read more
September 13, 2017
From: The
Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Org
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
For years, Connecticut
has been Battered by a Fiscal Storm of its own Making!
It has taken homes in
its path through tax lien sales! Its budget is on life support as it appears
that neither Obamacare nor Trumpcare
can breathe life into it!
And State
Democrats who have controlled the state legislature for all but two years since
1992 are displaying zombie like symptoms trying to figure out how they could
have sealed a 10 year deal with the public sector unions, their voting block, to
whom they awarded wage increases and job security - before developing a plan to
eradicate the States total $5 Billion deficit. And unless they are using sign language, no one is talking about
the States $74.3 Billion Debt!!!
To make matters worse,
there is that trembling beneath our feet as the ground shakes from the stampede
of those leaving our state looking for higher ground as the fiscal tsunami
drives more from our shores.
First, there was GE, then Aetna
said wait for me, and today we have learned that
Alexion Exits New Haven For
Boston, Agrees To Repay Millions In State Aid
************
The following article captioned
Concessions to Connecticuts
Public Employee Unions Erode Value of Reforms in Tentative Deal (Bob Williams /
Huffington Post)
Explains the negative impact the recent 10
year UNION DEAL approved by Connecticut Democrats will be on the future of
Connecticut, its taxpayers and finances as Huffington Post notes Connecticut
has the third worst credit rating in the nation.
************
**************
The editorial
staff of the Hartford
Courant got it right when they wrote
In Illinois, people are moving out as political leaders are locked in an impasse over the state
budget. (Sound familiar?) The bond rating for the Land of Lincoln
is close to junk status because of the standoff. There is an ugly lesson here for Connecticuts General Assembly: Dont be like basket-case Illinois.
Connecticut is headed
there, however, if the legislature doesnt end its budgetdeadlock
and address the
problems that are putting the state deep in the hole, a $5 billion budget hole
over two years. Continue reading athttp://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-connecticut-dont-be-illinois-20170629-story.html
The Courant notes - The tentative deal reached with state employee unions is a first step, but its
terms are too generous, and it again and again! locks
the state into a long-term contract. Its not too late to adjust the deal
brokered by Gov.Dannel P. Malloy
and leaders of SEBAC, the
state employee union bargaining group.Democratic
legislators should join their Republican colleagues in calling for more
common-sense concessions from unions and a much, much shorter contract
extension. http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-budget-union-deal-0524-20170523-story.html
******************************
Recent National Headlines Continue to Reveal
Connecticuts Fiscal Crisis!!!
By Joseph
De Avila Sept 12, 2017
Joseph De Avila | The Wall Street Journal Journalist | Muck Rack
Connecticut an
Outlier on Pensions (editorial - Hartford Courant)
Connecticut Sinks Deeper in Debt as Pension Returns Lag Target
(Martin Z. Braun / Bloomberg)
Hartford Situation Is a Warning for the State of Connecticut (op-ed
- Sen. Toni Boucher / News Times)
******************************
Jon Lender: Airport
Agency Gives Raises Despite Fiscal Crisis
Jon Lender Contact Reporter Sept 8, 2017
The states fiscal
crisis has eliminated pay raises for tens of thousands of public employees and
has ravaged budgets at government agencies but not at the Connecticut Airport
Authority, where pay hikes have continued for more than 30 non-union employees,
some of them managers collecting six-figure salarieshttp://www.courant.com/politics/government-watch/hc-pol-airport-pay-raises-20170905-story.html
****************
SECRET DEALS, PUBLIC
MONEY