Gov. Dannel P. Malloy can start slashing thousands of state jobs to close the $1.6 billion budget gap after the Democratic-controlled Legislature in Hartford passed his plan in a special session June 30.
The session was called after the governor”™s first budget was shattered when state employees voted down a $1.6 billion concessions package. When Malloy took office six months ago he inherited a $3.5 billion deficit. Soon after he made public a package that increased taxes, raising levies on sales and income, combined with a placeholder for about $2 billion in union concessions.
Malloy”™s new $40 billion budget will make $700 million in concessions and allow for layoffs.
“Make no mistake, come July 1 Connecticut will have an honest, balanced budget in place,” Malloy said at meeting June 27 with The Business Council of Fairfield County in Stamford.
The Connecticut House voted 78 to 56 and the Senate voted 21 to 14 to give Malloy the ability to cut spending in the executive, legislative and judicial branches by as much as 10 percent over the next three months.
Malloy included an income-tax hike for the wealthy in his new budget and said “all state residents must share in the sacrifice needed to make up for the damage inflicted by the recession.”
Malloy last week presented his plan to cut some 6,500 jobs; his earlier number was 7,500 but he was able to eliminate 1,000 cuts because of vacancies. Unions are given by law until Aug. 31 to revive the concession deal to avoid a portion of the cuts.
“If they choose to ratify the agreement that was recently turned down, and if they do so in a timely fashion, much of the pain that”™s been inflicted over the past few days can be reversed,” said Malloy.
The governor”™s proposal to change benefits including the way pension payments are designed, making them no longer subject to collective bargaining, was passed by the Senate. The bill was not taken up by the House.
Malloy has also said he will call a special session in late October or early November to enact legislation directed toward the goal of making it easier to compete as a business in the state.
