State budget’s good days won’t last forever

Opportunities like this don’t come along often for the state of Connecticut. The budget is flush with cash, tax cuts are in the offing and surpluses are forecast for years into the future.

There’s an air of self-satisfaction surrounding the start of state budget negotiations, which got under way in earnest with Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget address to the General Assembly on Wednesday. And with good reason — for all the talk of intractable shortfalls and endless deficits in recent years, state leaders are in their rights to take a victory lap.

As Lamont is fond of reminding people, when he took office after the 2018 election, the talk was of endless fiscal crisis. The economy was in a never-ending sputter, needs were going unmet and there seemed to be no way out of our malaise.

The situation four years later looks quite a bit different.

Lamont’s administration is touting his proposed tax cuts as the largest in state history, but the big numbers aren’t what matters most. The number that counts is what it means to an individual family, and it’s a real impact.

An extra $600 could mean the difference between getting a needed home or car repair or putting it off. It won’t lift a family into a new level of wealth, but it could go a long way toward easing day-to-day struggles.

With surpluses continuing to exceed expectations and the rainy-day fund having long since reached its statutory limit, there’s no question tax cuts are going to be part of the equation. If the government is collecting more money than it needs to function, it makes sense the government should start collecting less.

But there’s also no shortage of needs that continue to go unmet in the state. And there are some things only a government can do.

For starters, there is the state’s long-term debt, which went untouched for so long even as the liabilities continued to grow and the forecast for paying it off grew darker. Connecticut has made real strides in taking on that challenge in these better budget days, but everyone in Hartford needs to maintain that discipline or risk the problem returning to its former crisis levels.

But there are also services required of the government that can’t be satisfied with a tax cut. Education is a major one. Advocates for low-income communities have sought more dollars for schools in need than the administration has indicated it is willing to spend, which is disappointing.

The argument that school enrollments have fallen statewide falls flat. It’s true there are fewer students in rural and suburban districts, but urban schools, with the highest need, have more students than ever. They need more help.

The reason for those falling statewide enrollments is also a problem. We have an aging population, not enough people moving in and no place to go when they arrive. That reflects a lack of housing, which the administration has been slow to act on.

Lawmakers must consider their options carefully. Taxes will be cut, but there is more to be done. A chance like this doesn’t come often, and it can’t be wasted.

If the government is collecting more money than it needs to function, it makes sense the government should start collecting less.