The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
How does $51 billion state budget affect you?
Here’s what residents need to know
From tax cuts to commuter trains to education and health care, there’s a lot to absorb in the new $51 billion state budget that received bipartisan support from Connecticut legislators.
Here’s a quick tour of how the new state budget might affect you.
Tax cuts for poor and middle-class residents
Most Connecticut residents will see a slightly smaller tax bill as a result of the new budget.
The income bracket that previously paid a 5% income tax rate will now pay a 4.5% rate, while those who paid a 3% rate will now pay a 2% rate. This will mean annual savings of up to $290 for individual tax filers and up to $594 for joint filers, according to the governor’s office.
The cuts will benefit individual tax filers earning less than $150,000 and joint filers earning less than $300,000. Altogether, nearly 60% of taxpayers will see savings, according to the governor’s office.
In addition to the income tax cut, the budget includes an expansion of the state’s earned income tax rate, which benefits poor working families. About 211,000 residents will save as a result of the expanded EITC, Lamont’s office said.
In total, tax cuts in the budget total an estimated $460.3 million.
More money for local public schools, particularly in poor districts
K-12 schools got good news in the budget, which appropriated about $150 million toward phasing in the Education Cost Sharing formula.
That means more money for local school districts, particularly those in Connecticut’s poorest districts, which often struggle to pay teachers competitive salaries and meet other costs.
This will help schools survive the expiration of federal pandemic-relief money and reduce the likelihood that they have to cut back on programs such as summer school and special education.
The budget does not include a minimum salary for K-12 teachers, a policy teachers unions had lobbied for.
Reductions in rail service
The budget keeps in place steep cuts in rail service along the Shore Line East route between New Haven and New London, which Lamont proposed as a response to faltering ridership figures.
Service along the more popular New Haven Line, meanwhile, will undergo a temporary 14% cut in the upcoming fiscal year that advocates warned could impact dozens of daily commuter trains running between Connecticut and New York City. The line will return to full funding in the second year of the biennium, beginning in 2024.
The Hartford Line will not face any cuts to service as a result of the budget.
Lamont’s Department of Transportation has pointed to a relatively robust return in ridership along the line following the pandemic as the reason for keeping it fully funded.
Total funding for rail operations amounted to $516.5 million over the coming two years.
Money for affordable housing, homeownership
Some of the largest investments in the state budget are allocated for affordable housing initiatives.
That includes $150 million over two years to the state’s Time-to-Own program, which offers forgivable mortgage assistance to first-time homeowners; $200 million to the state’s Housing Trust Fund, which encourages the creation of low- and moderate-income rental housing; $200 million for workforce development housing; and millions in additional funds for other housing programs.
The budget also includes $5 million for homeless shelters during the 2024 fiscal year.
Altogether, the budget includes more than $800 million in housing programs, enough to assist in the purchase of 1,250 homes and generate thousands of new units, according to the governor’s office.
While these investments won’t make Connecticut more affordable overnight, Lamont said he hopes it will have a meaningful effect over time.
The new housing funds come amid the legislature’s failure to pass a “Fair Share” proposal popular with housing advocates that would have required towns and cities to green-light affordable housing.
Medical debt relief, Medicaid expansion
The new budget includes several provisions aimed at reducing health care costs for Connecticut residents, particularly those with lower incomes.
The state will spend $6.5 million to pay down hundreds of millions in medical debt for state residents, through a partnership with a nonprofit that purchases medical debt at a fraction of its original cost, then forgives borrowers. A Lamont spokesperson said Tuesday that the investment should be enough to wipe out all medical debt for Connecticut residents with incomes below 400% of the federal poverty line.
Eligible residents will not have to apply for relief and will simply receive a letter informing them their debt has been erased. They will not have to pay taxes on the canceled debt.
“I thought in terms of giving people opportunity when it comes to the wealth gap, that was something important to do,” Lamont said.
The budget also increases eligibility for HUSKY C—a form of Medicaid — to blind and disabled people earning up to 105% of the federal poverty level (about $15,300 annually for a single person or $31,500 for a four-person household). It also expands HUSKY coverage to undocumented children up to age 15, as opposed to 12 under current law.
Additionally, the state will increase support for CoveredCT, which provides free health insurance for people just above Medicaid cutoffs.
“I thought in terms of giving people opportunity when it comes to the wealth gap, that was something important to do.”
Gov. Ned Lamont