Republican legislators unveiled their no-tax-increase budget Tuesday that would cut the state workforce by 5 percent and serve as an alternative to Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's two-year package.
The Republican proposal does not include any reduction in the popular $500 property tax credit. Malloy called in February for eliminating the credit on the state income tax, but he has since proposed setting the maximum level at $300 for couples earning about $100,000 per year. The credit would decrease on a sliding scale and would be eventually eliminated for any couples earning more than $130,000 per year.
House Republican leader Larry Cafero said the GOP budget is necessary in order to have an alternative to Malloy's fiscal plan, which has been the subject of major scrutiny since it was unveiled in mid-February.
The heavily detailed Republican proposal would cut 2,700 state-employee positions, establish a tax amnesty program that would generate one-time revenue of $25 million, eliminate public financing of political campaigns to save $44 million over two years, close two seasonal state ferries across the Connecticut River, consolidate the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women with other commissions, shut down the motor vehicles office in New Britain, and close seven rest areas along Interstates 95, 91, and 84.
"We simply cannot afford to do business as usual,'' Cafero told reporters and lobbyists at the state Capitol complex.
The plan also relies on the same $1 billion in savings and concessions that Malloy is seeking from the state employee unions. Those talks are continuing behind closed doors, but no agreement has been announced.
The Republicans are calling for reducing the state workforce from the current level of 54,000 fulltime equivalent jobs to 51,300.
Republicans said that the no-tax-increase budget is necessary because Connecticut citizens are struggling to make college tuition payments and mortgage payments as the unemployment rate has reached 9.1 percent. At the same time, they said that the salaries and perks for many state employees are far beyond some workers in the private sector who have been dealing constantly with layoffs, buyouts, salary freezes, and cutbacks in healthcare benefits in recent years.
"The only area where there has been no sacrifice is government,'' said Senate GOP leader John McKinney of Fairfield. "Government hasn't sacrificed a nickel. It's time!''
Cafero added, "The unemployment rate in state government is zero.''
Cafero has complained that the budget deal is being cooked in closed-door talks between Malloy's budget team and top legislators, adding that Republicans have been cut out of those talks. The conversations with Malloy's budget team, he says, have been perfunctory and have included comments about lawmakers' children and the recent play of the New York Mets baseball team.
While saying that his own conversations are not substantive, Cafero says he sees Malloy's budget team heading into meetings with the appropriations committee with their arms full of fiscal documents and financial calculations.
Since Malloy is a Democrat and both chambers of the legislature are controlled by Democrats, insiders said the Republican budget has essentially no chance of becoming law. But Republicans said that it is important to offer an alternative budget because they represent more than 1 million citizens across Connecticut. Both Malloy's senior adviser and the top Democratic leaders in the legislature scoffed at the Republican ideas Tuesday.