May 5, that”™s when Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano and House Republican Leader Themis Klarides said in a letter sent to Democrat legislative leaders that they want to hold a vote on the state budget.
The Republican leaders”™ move comes just one day after Democrats proposed asking 169 towns to push out their local budget deadlines to accommodate state budget uncertainties as a result of Gov. Dannel Malloy”™s deep municipal cut proposal.
“Instead of spending time figuring out how to delay local budget processes in 169 towns, we want to dedicate the next eight weeks fully to crafting a budget together that restores confidence in the legislature to lead our state and pursue budget policies that will provide stability and predictability today and for future generations,” the pair wrote in the March 8 letter.
“We are proposing to set an aggressive timeframe for the Appropriations Committee and the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee,” the letter added, “with the goal of voting on a budget by May 5, 2017 in the Senate and House of Representatives, allowing us time to digest the work of the legislative committees and take into account consensus revenue projections.”
“The reason our towns are in such a difficult situation this year is that for the first time the governor”™s budget is a complete nonstarter for both Republicans and Democrats,” Fasano and Klarides wrote. “The only budget document towns and cities can rely on today is an unrealistic budget that even the governor knows will never be passed. It”™s up to lawmakers to offer a real budget for our state.”
