Democratic committee approves $43 billion budget

Republicans reject 241-page budget document, charging it would raise taxes even more

HARTFORD — Along strict party lines, the General Assembly’s budget-writing panel on Tuesday approved a two-year, $43.26 billion budget, kicking off five weeks of negotiations with Gov. Ned Lamont over issues including whether towns will pay some — or any — teacher pension costs. The Appropriations Committee’s vote will be combined with a Finance Committee tax package on Wednesday or Thursday to yield in the Democratdominated legislature’s vision of state spending and taxes. Republicans rejected the 241-page budget document, charging that it would raise taxes even higher than the $1 billion already proposed by Lamont.

The spending package leaves several big

issues up in the air. Paid family and medical leave; the hike in the $10.10 minimum wage to $15; and shifting part of the burden for funding the troubled teachers’ retirement plan will all be subject to future negotiations with Lamont. A million dollars was approved to study the public option for health insurance.

“Over the course of the next few weeks, we have a lot of work to do as negotiations continue,” Lamont said in a statement. “I look forward to having more important conversations with my colleagues in the General Assembly in order to craft a final and honest budget which helps Connecticut grow good-paying jobs, demonstrates that state government can live within its means and prepares our kids from Danbury to Danielson for a brighter economic future.”

The first year of the budget would be about $395 million more than the current level of spending, about 1.9 percent over current spending. The second year would be a 3.6 percent spending increase, about $768 million. In a related matter, revenue figures for the current fiscal year, re

leased at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, indicate the state will end the year June 30 with a $582 million surplus, up more than $14 million from earlier in the month.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities said it supports the budget’s increased aid for public education, but finds the issue of forcing towns and cities to pay a portion of teacher retirement contributions very ominous.

“The Teachers’ Retirement System mandate would be the largest unfunded state mandate in recent memory,” the CCM said in a statement.

“This budget does seem to lead with increased taxes,” said Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, ranking member of the committee, stressing that in recent years Republicans contributed more to a final product. “We don’t know what they are yet, but

that’s the question. We know they’re there. We just don’t know which ones. I will not be voting for the budget today.”

While it also appeared to turn down the governor’s proposal to have towns and cities start to pay a portion of their teacher retirement contributions, during a meeting with reporters prior to the committee meeting, Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, the committee co-chairmen, said that in fact the issue would be subject to further negotiations with Lamont.

“I believe it was a miscommunication,” said Osten. “I don’t think we clarified enough with OFA,” said Walker, referring to the legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis. “The two of us will take responsibility for it,” Osten said.

“Actually, we have said out loud that we believe that there may have to be a need for municipalities to pay into teachers’ pension,” Osten said. “We planned on having that in the budget documents that municipalities would have to contribute toward teacher pensions. There was an error in the documents that we noticed this morning after they were already printed.”