State employees must come to the table

The reluctance of state unions to return to the bargaining table and potentially give up annual raises this year, something they have done every other year for the past decade, is understandable. But as many people have noted, these are unprecedented times, and the state is not operating under anything resembling normal conditions. Everyone has to sacrifice, including state employees.

The size of the crisis facing the state budget is only now coming into focus. According to a recent report by Moody’s Analytics, state coffers over the next year and a half could be in line to lose $2.35 billion in tax revenue, with Medicaid spending to rise by $294 million as more people enter poverty. That’s the projection if the coming recession is relatively moderate, and is the equivalent of 13.5 percent of the 2019 general fund, an enormous hit for the state no matter what the conditions.

“We’re going to have to streamline things, make some cuts [and] work in collaboration with our friends in labor,” Gov. Ned Lamont said earlier this month. “I’m sorry to ask everybody, but we’re going to have to do a little more on this fiscal front.”

By some measures, Connecticut is in better shape than other states, and it’s because the Lamont administration has been so scrupulous in building up and maintaining a rainy-day fund for just such an occasion. Connecticut’s state budget shortfall would be the sixth smallest in the nation over the next 14 months if the recession remains moderate, the Moody’s report shows.

But the rainy-day fund will only last so long. Analysts have projected shortfalls totaling $7 billion over the next three years, and the $2.5 billion rainy-day fund would be long exhausted by then. There will need to be sacrifices across the board, and state employees, even as they have sacrificed in the past, will need to be a part of that.

Connecticut has received more than a half-million applications for unemployment benefits since midMarch, which is about what it normally sees over about three years. No one wants to add to those numbers, so calling for state employee layoffs is not a sound strategy. There’s enough joblessness to go around as it is.

But giving back in some form is going to be necessary. In this environment, it is reasonable to ask that state employees would forego 3.5 percent raises they’re owed this summer, or else bargain for other ways they can help keep the state’s fiscal ship afloat.

Union officials say five previous skipped raises over the past 11 years are the reason the state has a rainy-day fund to begin with. And despite the rhetoric from some politicians, benefits and pensions are nowhere near as robust for recent hires as they were in past years. Concessions over the past decade have taken a legitimate toll.

But even given the seriousness of the budget situation Gov. Ned Lamont inherited upon taking office, there is no precedent for the current crisis. Everyone will need to be a part of the solution. That will mean another year of skipped raises for state employee unions.

Connecticut has received more than a half-million applications for unemployment benefits since mid-March, which is about what it normally sees over about three years.