Priorities for legislative wind down

Whatever happens, let’s avoid a four-month delay like last year in passing a state budget.

The Halloween agreement for a budget that should have started July 1 was not conducive to stability and predictability for municipalities and businesses.

This time should be easier as legislators are adjusting the two-year budget, not creating a new one. But still. There’s politics in the evenly divided Senate and in the House where Democrats hold a margin as slim as a noodle.

We would like to see the General Assembly take its midnight Wednesday deadline seriously and not keep poking the numbers through the summer, long after towns and cities have adopted their own budgets.

A windfall in income tax receipts last month is relieving some of the pressure, but should not be baked deeply into the spending plan; it likely won’t be there next year.

Here are three top priorities we see for legislators to take care of in the budget.

For consumers, hold off on the rate hikes for mass transportation — Metro-North and bus service — that were to take effect July 1. For environmental and economic reasons, the state should be encouraging the use of mass transportation. Also, keep the weekend service on the railroad’s branch lines.

For municipalities, commit to strong education funding, especially for urban areas, and maintain $94 million in local aid, including for road work. The Senate needs to pass a bill (HB-5171, approved with a bipartisan vote in the House) that would prohibit mid-year cuts to the Education Cost Sharing funds, as happened last year and wildly disrupted local budgets. Municipalities need — and should get — predictability from the state.

For the most vulnerable, fully fund the Medicare Savings Program that provides Medicaid prescription benefits to more than 60,000 seniors, low-income and disabled citizens. The program was sliced by more than $70 million last October, which puts too many people at risk. Similarly, restore the Husky A health care program for about 13,500 poor

Here are three top priorities we see for legislators to take care of in the budget.

adults. Seeing to the health of the neediest population not only is morally right, but also pragmatic.

An over-arching concern is to get more dedicated money flowing into the Special Transportation Fund, gas tax receipts are not enough to pay for the infrastructure improvements necessary for commerce and quality of life. Legislators ducked from taking steps toward putting tolls on the state’s highways because clearly a solid majority could not agree.

This is an election year, after all.

But within the Democratic and Republican budget adjustment plans some ground for agreement is possible, for example with the Medicare Savings Program. (Gov. Dannel Malloy wants less spending either way.) Party balance in the Senate and a close House means legislators have to listen to each other. As we have said many times, one party does not hold a lock on good ideas.

Put the needs of consumers, municipalities and the most vulnerable first as the deadline for this year’s session gets counted in hours and minutes.