State budget plans for tougher days ahead

For a short session, the General Assembly got a lot done. In most years, the closing days of a legislative session feature stories about bills with wide support that died because the clock ran out, while this year was more about legislators patting each other on the backs. A record windfall of tax receipts will do that.

Coming in just ahead of the closing bell, the state Senate on Tuesday gave its approval to a $24.2 billion state budget, which had already been approved in the House and only awaits the signature of Gov. Ned Lamont. Considering there have been years when the budget process dragged on for weeks after the session’s scheduled end, this is a positive for the state. Again, the coffers are flush, which makes life easier.

To their credit, legislators appear to be making good use of the $4.8 billion surplus this fiscal year, which came in ahead of all projections. Some is going back to residents in the form of tax cuts, while the state is also making investments in necessary services, like increased access to mental health care for children.

There are raises for unionized state employees, which were among the most controversial items voted on in this year’s session, but there’s good reason to believe the state could have lost money if those raises had been rejected due to arbitration rules. With the state employee pool in flux and thousands of jobs open, this is a good investment in the future of state services.

Then there is long-term debt, mostly in the form of pensions and health care, which for too many years was ignored even as it ballooned to heights rarely seen elsewhere in the country. The situation started to turn around under the leadership of former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, and now Lamont has followed by making increasingly large payments aimed at getting the debt under control. All that has happened even as the state has put money aside to plan for the next recession, whenever that may be.

Since Lamont made getting the budget under control a top priority upon taking office in 2019, it’s worth asking whether he’s succeeded. He certainly will campaign on the good budgetary news as he seeks reelection this year.

The truth is that it’s hard to know. The good news is that recent projections show that the budget should be in good shape even after federal COVID relief expires, which had been a source of dread early in the pandemic. But those projections rely on continuing booming tax receipts as the state has enjoyed in the recent past.

That’s not so easy to predict. Even as the state has taken steps to limit volatility, with an understanding that relying on the stock market to fund state government is a recipe for instability, the uncertainty remains. There will come a day when tax receipts fall, and the federal government may not be in any position to help.

The good news is that we as a state are planning ahead. We don’t know what the future will hold, but we can do our best to prepare for darker days. Credit state leaders for taking those steps.

Since Lamont made getting the budget under control a top priority upon taking office in 2019, it’s worth asking whether he’s succeeded.