CT GOP leaders push Democrats for May 5 budget vote

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.”