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Legislature overwhelmingly enacts bipartisan CT budget
The legislature overwhelmingly approved a new state budget shortly before their midnight deadline Wednesday that restores aid for towns; reverses health care cuts for the elderly, poor and disabled; and defers a transportation crisis — at least for another year.
The $20.86 billion package, which now moves to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk, does not increase taxes, though it does raise the maximum tax rate cities and towns can levy on motor vehicles. It also would spend rather than save more than $300 million from this April’s $1 billion surge in income tax receipts.
It does not include several major changes sought by Republicans to collective bargaining rules regarding state and municipal employees.
And while state finances are projected to face multi-billion-dollar deficits after the next election tied in part to legacy debt costs amassed over eight decades, the new budget would leave Connecticut with $1.1 billion in its emergency reserves.
The budget boosts General Fund spending about 1.6 percent over the adopted budget for the current fiscal year, and is 1.1 percent higher than the preliminary 2018-19 budget lawmakers adopted last October.
In a related matter, legislators also passed several state tax changes aimed at protecting Connecticut households and businesses that may face higher federal taxes under the tax plan passed this past winter by Congress.
“Leaders came together and said the state of Connecticut matters,” Senate Republican leader Len Fasano of North Haven, said. “We need to move the state of Connecticut forward. … This is another monumental step forward for this state.”
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, praised both parties for uniting to make government work for its citizens. “We’ve been able to make those changes in response to the needs and outcries of our constituents,” Looney said.
The Senate passed the budget 36-0 after a mere 17 minutes of debate. The House took only 20 minutes before adopting it 142-8.
“I think this budget represents all of Connecticut’s needs,” said Rep. Toni E. Walker, D-New Haven, House chair of the Appropriations Committee.
The priorities in this plan “are things that we all believe in,” added House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby.
Reversing Medicare, Husky A cuts
Democrats and Republicans alike faced a hailstorm of criticism last fall after they voted to tighten eligibility requirements for the Medicare Savings Program, which uses Medicaid funds to help low-income elderly and disabled patients cover premiums and medication costs.
Lawmakers scrambled and postponed the cutbacks to July 1, even though it worsened a deficit in the current fiscal year, after learning an estimated 113,000 seniors and disabled residents would lose some or all assistance.
The new budget reverses all cutbacks, at a cost of approximately $130 million.
Legislators also put $12 million back into the budget to reverse new restrictions on the Medicaid-funded health insurance program for poor adults, Husky A. Advocates say this funding would enable approximately 13,500 adults from households earning between 155 and 138 percent of the federal poverty level to retain state-sponsored coverage.
For a family of three, the 155 percent threshold represents an income limit of $32,209 while 138 percent is $28,676.
The new budget also would:
Provide a 1 percent increase in rates paid to private, nonprofit social service agencies.
Add $5 million for emergency residential placements for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Add $5 million for the Temporary Aid for Needy Families welfare program.
Shielding cities and towns
Legislators also took a different approach with this budget regarding aid to cities and towns.
Democrats and Republicans clashed with Malloy back in November when the governor — who was mandated to achieve unprecedented savings after the budget was in force — cut $91 million from statutory grants to cities and towns.
The new budget gives communities $70.5 million more in 2018-19 than they received this year — and prohibits the governor from cutting town grants to achieve savings targets.
Big reserve — even bigger post-election deficits
Legislators did tap a portion of this April’s $1.3 billion surge in state income tax receipts tied chiefly to capital gains and other investment income. And that’s despite a new revenue “volatility” cap that was established last fall to force Connecticut to save such funds.
How did they get at those funds?
The budget “carries forward” $299 million in resources earmarked for payments to hospitals this fiscal year. The industry, which originally expected to get the money this spring, won’t get paid unless federal Medicaid officials approve a new state hospital taxing arrangement — and approval is not expected until late summer or in the fall, after the next fiscal year has begun.
By carrying those resources forward, the state has an extra $299 million to spend in the next budget while simultaneously enlarging the outgoing fiscal year’s deficit by the same amount.
The new deficit for the outgoing fiscal year would be $686 million, which would be closed entirely with the dollars in the budget reserve — which is filled primarily with this spring’s income tax receipts.
Even after that maneuver, the budget reserve is expected to have between $700 million and $800 million on hand when the books close on 2017-18.
But analysts also project the volatility cap system will direct more income tax receipts tied to investment earnings into the budget reserve next fiscal year — albeit a more modest amount. After that deposit is made, and if the state budget remains in balance in 2018-19, it would close the fiscal year with about $1.1 billion in reserve.
That potential fiscal cushion, which represents just under 6 percent of annual operating costs, would be the state’s largest reserve since 2009 — but also well below the 15 percent level recommended by Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo.
More importantly, it also is smaller than the projected deficits in the first two fiscal years after the November elections.
According to the legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, the newly adopted budget — unless adjusted — would run $2 billion in deficit in the 2019-20 fiscal year. And the potential shortfall rises to 2.58 billion in 2020-21.
Much of those deficits are attributable both to surging retirement benefit costs stemming from decades of inadequate state savings, and also to the Connecticut economy’s sluggish recovery from the last recession. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bradley Airport Makeover: Five Takeaways For The Common Traveler
A proposed $1.4 billion-dollar renovation would make it easier to arrive, depart and use Bradley International Airport.
The Connecticut Airport Authority envisions a new terminal, an onsite car rental center, more parking and roundabouts to handle growing traffic over the next 20 years, according to a master plan prepared by CHA Consulting, Inc.
By 2037, 4.6 million passengers will board aircraft at Bradley, according to the group’s predictions, compared to 3.2 million in 2017. The plan’s authors also forecast that planes will take off from Bradley with fewer empty seats; by 2037, they expect Bradley to fill 89 percent of seats on departing planes, compared to 86 percent in 2017. The master plan envisions the total number of people traveling through Bradley will reach 9.3 million in 2037 — an increase of 45 percent over 20 years, according to an analysis from an aviation research group.
The plan must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration before the airport authority can begin looking to finance the project. But if the plan is green-lit, here are five changes travelers can expect at the Windsor Locks airport:
1. Smoother travel throughout the airport.
The master plan would swap traffic lights for roundabouts at three intersections along the main road running through Bradley. One proposal suggests building a two lane flyover ramp connecting Route 20 to Terminal A curbside, with the intention of smoothing travel to and from the airport. Construction and re-alignment of Route 20 near the airport has already begun.
One drawback of roundabouts, however, is their novelty: “A potential disadvantage of roundabouts is they’re difficult for some drivers to navigate,” the plan’s authors wrote, “particularly as they are still a newer intersection type in Connecticut.”
2. Easier access to rental cars.
The master plan includes designs for a ground transportation center, which would move car rental companies onsite and add more parking. The two-building structure, which would be built alongside the airport’s existing parking garage, would allow travelers to pick up a rental car across the street from the baggage claims and avoid shuttling to an off-site vendor. The structure would also have parking spaces for about 800 vehicles.
3. More parking, closer to terminals.
Along with the extra 800 spaces from the ground transportation center, the area currently occupied by four car rental companies southeast of the terminal would be converted to overflow parking, with space for 2,000 to 4,000 more vehicles. There are currently 7,175 parking spots available to the public at one parking garage and nine surface lots.The plan must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration before the airport authority can begin looking to finance the project. But if the plan is green-lit, here are five changes travelers can expect at the Windsor Locks airport:
1. Smoother travel throughout the airport.
The master plan would swap traffic lights for roundabouts at three intersections along the main road running through Bradley. One proposal suggests building a two lane flyover ramp connecting Route 20 to Terminal A curbside, with the intention of smoothing travel to and from the airport. Construction and re-alignment of Route 20 near the airport has already begun.
One drawback of roundabouts, however, is their novelty: “A potential disadvantage of roundabouts is they’re difficult for some drivers to navigate,” the plan’s authors wrote, “particularly as they are still a newer intersection type in Connecticut.”
2. Easier access to rental cars.
The master plan includes designs for a ground transportation center, which would move car rental companies onsite and add more parking. The two-building structure, which would be built alongside the airport’s existing parking garage, would allow travelers to pick up a rental car across the street from the baggage claims and avoid shuttling to an off-site vendor. The structure would also have parking spaces for about 800 vehicles.
3. More parking, closer to terminals.
One proposal calls for a handful of “underutilized” buildings — two cargo buildings, a U.S. Post Office facility, all existing car rental facilities and the taxi and bus staging lot — to be replaced with parking. Collectively, removing the aforementioned buildings would free up an estimated 3,800 parking spaces that are at most three-quarters of a mile from Terminal A.
4. Less congestion in Terminal A, thanks to short-term improvements.
Bradley’s sole existing terminal suffers “various deficiencies in size, layout and use,” the plan reads, and its authors recommend reorganizing Terminal A before embarking on building a new one. Those short-term changes include building new arrival corridors to reduce cross-flow with departing passengers, creating a central bag-screening facility and increasing the number of security checkpoints. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Connecticut lawmakers reach budget deal, plan to vote on it
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers announced on Wednesday they had reached an 11th-hour bipartisan budget agreement and planned to vote before the legislative session adjourned at midnight.
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders made the announcement to a crowd of onlookers and reporters packed outside the hall of the House of Representatives. While details were unavailable, and it was unclear when the bill would be brought up for a vote, lawmakers appeared confident the budget bill would pass before the deadline.
"I think it's, once again, another monumental step for the state of Connecticut that a bipartisan deal for the second time in a row, with respect to the budget, has been reached," said Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, of North Haven.
The new plan would take effect on July 1.
The compromise makes changes to the second year of the two-year, $41.3 billion bipartisan budget the General Assembly approved last year after months of on-again-off-again negotiations that stretched into October. House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said the agreement includes policies that "move the state forward, don't just fix it for the time being."
For example, the agreement calls for studying whether to use lottery proceeds to help financially shore up the state teachers' retirement fund.
The compromise also restores some funding that was cut in the original plan. For example, Klarides said, it releases some state aid to cities and towns for education and capital improvements; restores funding for a program that helps needy senior citizens cover the cost of Medicare-related expenses; and restores funding for programs that serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
"Those are all things we agree on. We did not want to leave it to the governor. If we did not come to agreement, the governor would have had the ability to do what he did in the winter, and hurt people that we believe we need to protect," she said, referring to budget cuts Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made using his executive power to balance the budget after a deficit developed.
Malloy defended making those cuts, saying, "I've never done anything that they didn't assign me to do to begin with." But he acknowledged it would be best for the state if "we finished the work on time."
Fasano said the latest proposal also eliminates planned bus and rail fare increases; dedicates $1 billion for transportation infrastructure over the next two years; provides more funding for magnet schools and vocational agricultural schools; and restores funding for a health insurance program for needy, working parents. However, he said, there are no changes to state employee collective bargaining rules in the agreement, changes some Republicans had been seeking.
Despite the fact the current fiscal year is projected to end with a $363.5 million deficit, the state has collected higher-than-expected tax revenues for April, making life a little easier for lawmakers. Democratic Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, of Berlin, said the new plan sets aside more than $1.1 billion in the state's budget reserve fund over two years, creating the state's largest rainy-day fund in years. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Missed deadline delays Torrington sewer plant upgrade
Leslie Hutchison
TORRINGTON — A missed deadline by the city in March caused state regulators to reject the contract for a planned sewer plant upgrade. Now, the Water Protection Control Authority will have to re-bid the project.
The delay will mean construction on the $70 million project won’t begin until late August at the earliest. Plans had called for work to begin in early summer, Mayor Elinor Carbone said earlier this week.
A new round of bidding for the project will begin Monday, said George Hicks, the supervising sanitary engineer with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. His division regulates sewer plant upgrades.
“It was clearly an oversight,” on the city’s part, he said. The missed deadline is unusual, Hicks added. “In my 25 years in the group, we have never had to reject a bid.”
The deadline for the second round of bidding is June 19. The short-time frame of a 30-day bidding window meets the state’s regulations, Hicks said, but “it’s not at all typical. If anyone asks for an extension, we will weigh in.“The upgrade is a state mandate,” said Carbone.
The plant hasn’t had an upgrade since the city spent $12 million on modifications in 1994. She said the new bid wording, or “specs” have modest changes in language. Carbone said she hopes the new bid document will increase interest so more contractors submit proposals. The first round of bidding had just one submission, from C.H. Nickerson, the Torrington-based contractor.“I’m interested to see how it works out,” said Hicks He said Nickerson had very competitive prices.
“Now that the price is on the street... it may generate more interest,” Hicks said.
The city started planning for the upgrade years ago, in 2005, said Ray Drew, the water authority’s administrator. That’s because the state began to enforce environmental protection regulations, he said.The approved upgrade allows the city to receive 25 percent of the project’s total cost from the state’s Clean Water Fund. In September, the City Council voted to issue bonds for $20.3 million to supplement the $51 million borrowed in 2014.
Drew has worked for the city for 19 years and in treatment plants for more than three decades.
“Our primary goal is to submit clean water back into the (Naugatuck) river,” he said.
The two key requirements of the state’s mandate are a decrease in nitrogen and phosphorus in the plant’s treated waste water that’s released into the river.
The plant routinely meets the state’s general permit requirements for a decrease in nitrogen, Drew said. But in order to meet the state’s long-range goals, the amount of nitrogen allowed to be released from treatment plants will decrease each year. To reduce nitrogen, Drew said a chemical conversion must take place which changes nitrates to nitrites to nitrogen gas, which is then released into the air.
The water authority participates in a nitrogen reduction program which allows municipalities with low amounts of released nitrogen to sell credits to the Nitrogen Credit Exchange program. Municipalities that don’t meet the requirements can buy credits from the exchange. Drew said Torrington has received $523,000 since 2002 for selling those credits.
“Not bad for selling air,” he said.
Tweed Runway Extension Dead
Markeshia Ricks
Hartford—A last-minute effort to show support for a bill allowing paving another 1,000 feet of Tweed New Haven Airport’s runwy wasn’t enough to cross the goal line this legislative session.
That was the word from the New Haven legislators who represent the east side of the city on Wednesday, the last day of the 2018 legislative session.
They reported that the bill containing the Tweed provision — the subject of a last-minute lobbying blitz by New Haven business and political leaders — will not come up for a vote before the legislature adjourns at midnight.
“The City of New Haven made progress this year by finally developing an outreach campaign,” State Sen. Martin Looney stated in a press release. But ultimately, Looney said that outreach campaign was too late in the legislative session to demonstrate to lawmakers that there was “opportunity for robust community participation, consideration of the relocation of the terminal to diminish the traffic impact on New Haven, and the overall impact of enhanced commercial use of the airport.
“I am sure that the city will take the next several months to reach out to the affected neighborhood, all stakeholders, and elected officials in order to build a consensus that respects both economic development opportunities and preservation of one of New Haven’s core neighborhoods,” Looney further said in the press release.
State Rep. Alphonse Paolillo Jr. in the same release stated that he and Looney had told city and airport officials that the neighborhood and its concerns had to be in the forefront of any proposal to extend the runway, and that didn’t happen.
“The concerns and the well-being of the community need to be put first. It’s incumbent upon the city administration to communicate with neighboring residents about their proposal and how it will impact the community,” he said in the press release. “A true community benefits agreement should be reflective of the neighborhood’s needs. We need to bring together residents, stakeholders and local leaders to fully vet the city’s proposal.”
The bill died Wednesday despite a message emailed by New Haven’s Economic Development Commission to “Tweed supporters” urging them: “With less than 12 hours left before the end of session, call or email your senators to let them know that you support improved air service at Tweed Airport, and want it called for a vote in the Senate!”
The news comes just two days after the Board of Alders passed a resolution in favor of removing provisions in state statute that currently restrict the airport’s runway to 5,600 feet. Neighbors had shown strong opposition to the expansion from the time bills were introduced that would have coupled the establishment of a pilot solar program with the elimination of a runway restriction.
Many challenged airport officials’ assertions that the longer runway would attract more jet service to destinations like Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Florida and create an additional 300 jobs and more revenue. They also raised concerns about how the increased traffic to the airport might impact neighbors’ quality of life and the environment.
The Harp administration held two public meetings and one Democratic gubernatorial endorsement leading up to the alders vote on a supportive resolution and what they had hoped would have been a vote of the legislature before the end of the session.
“While disappointed by this missed opportunity, my administration will continue working with the city’s legislative delegation to unlock the untapped economic potential inherent at Tweed – all of us have a responsibility to work toward a vibrant future for the region and the state,” Mayor Harp said in a statement. “Going forward, we’ll arrange for legislators to meet face-to-face with business leaders and area residents for a candid exchange about how Tweed fits into a comprehensive plan for prosperity.”