‘Bold action’ needed to save state

Connecticut business leaders urge lawmakers to fix fiscal affairs

A task force whose membership reads like a who’s who of Connecticut business leaders said while the state has many positive attributes, lawmakers and political leaders need to act decisively to restore economic growth.

“At one time, we were growing faster than the U.S. economy in the 1980s and 1990s,” said James Loree, president of Stanley Black & Decker, which is based in New Britain. “Connecticut was a coveted place to be. But now our economy is not growing; it hasn’t been for a long time.”

Perhaps even more troubling for Connecticut residents, Loree said work the commission has done so far indicates “we are not well positioned for the next (economic) downturn.” Loree made his comments during a meeting of the commission Monday at Yale University’s Maurice R. Greenberg Conference Center.

“The time to act is now,” he said. “We need to take big, bold actions. We can’t lose this sense of urgency.”

The group met for the first time in December.

Loree said the key to restoring the state’s economic growth requires straightening out the state’s fiscal affairs.

He said the state’s debtservice ratio is 13.3 percent, the highest in the United States.

The state’s liabilities for funding its employees’ pensions are more difficult

because those benefits are 38 percent higher than the United States’ average and 26 percent higher than those of other states in the Northeast, he said.

Financial lenders use a rule of thumb as a debt-service measure to give a preliminary assessment of whether a potential borrower is carrying too much debt. More specifically, this ratio shows the proportion of gross income already spent on housing-related and other similar payments.

PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi is not a member of the commission, but she is a Connecticut resident. She said a recent town hallstyle meeting at the company’s Purchase, N.Y., headquarters attracted 250 employees who live in Connecticut.

“They want to help,” she said of her employees. “I think you need to simply state the state’s problems in a way the average person can understand. We need one version of the truth ... because the pill we’re all going to have to swallow is going to be bitter.”

Webster Financial Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Smith said the commission expects to release its recommendations by the first week in March. Smith, who is cochairman of the commission, said the timetable for the release of the recommendations is designed to give the Connecticut General Assembly time to implement some of the group’s proposals for fixing the state’s economic woes.

“This was a deliberate decision,” he said.

But the timing of the release of the recommendations dovetails with the nominating conventions for Connecticut’s Republican and Democratic parties. That was not lost on Oz Griebel, the former chief executive officer of the MetroHartford Alliance who is running for governor, and businessman Ned Lamont, who is considering a gubernatorial run.

Neither man spoke at the event but stayed for the entire three-hour session. In addition to the race for governor, the entire state Legislature is up for re-election in November.

Greg Butler, executive vice president and general counsel for Eversource Energy, said the commission recommendations will give voters something to measure where the candidates stand in restoring the state’s economic health.

“I hope that recommendations are seen as so important to those running for elected office that they take them to heart,” Butler said. “The folks on this task force are determined to see these recommendations through.”