CT Comptroller Lembo projects FY2021 deficit of $615.2M

Connecticut Comptroller Kevin Lembo has updated his projection of the state’s monthly financial and economic health saying that the general fund will end fiscal year 2021 with a $615.2 million deficit, a decline from the projected $879.4 million deficit that he forecasted last month.

Lembo credited the state’s housing market for helping the local economy, noting that sellers received an average of 99.8% of the list price for their homes during November. He also highlighted lower-than-expected spending and improving revenues as evidence that the state’s financial well-being was on the right track.

“As we enter 2021, it is encouraging to see our economy trending in the right direction after so many months of hardship,” Lembo said.

“Connecticut”™s housing market had another solid month, and our economy has weathered the storm better than many anticipated. The most urgent economic need remains supporting the thousands of Connecticut residents that have lost their jobs during this pandemic.”

While Lembo pointed to the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine and the recently approved federal stimulus as tools to strengthen optimism on the near-future, he complained that “federal relief efforts have yet to meet the scale of the problem and more assistance will be needed before this crisis is truly behind us. Congress must get back to work immediately to ensure middle- and working-class families are not left behind.”