CT Has a Budget and Lots and Lots of Debt, Check Out What
you are Paying State Employees and Retirees, Jon Lender reports Law and
Lobbying Firm of Ritter and Cafero Spark Controversy,
and Much More News on the State of our State
Today, Connecticut’s State Legislature has a budget
and it appears the next governor faces a $2.7 billion budget deficit referring
to combined projections for 2016 and 2017.
See more below….
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Investigative Reporting is an Art which has
obviously been mastered by Jon Lender of the Hartford Courant as he provides us with
further insight into the operations of our State Government. If we do not have State Conflict of
Interest/Ethics Laws which prevent the following, then an ethically minded
Republican and/or Democrat
State Rep should step
forward and propose one!
Jon Lender: Law-And-Lobbying
Firm Of Ritter And Cafero
Sparks More Controversy
Jon Lender Government Watch 2:14 p.m. EDT, May 3, 2014 When
House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, argued strenuously last Tuesday against a bill requiring
increased financial disclosures by for-profit nursing homes, he took the same
position as a lobbying firm hired by the Connecticut Association of Health Care
Facilities to fight the measure….. The
debate on the bill was one of the year's longest —
seven hours — and the House finally approved it 86 to 57, with seven Democrats and all Republicans against
it. It's now awaiting Senate action —
but, in a way, the House debate isn't over.
That's because two days after Tuesday's vote, a labor union chief made
an issue of the fact that Cafero is a lawyer for
Brown Rudnick, the law-and-lobbying firm that the health care facilities group
hired to try to kill the bill. Continue
reading at ….. http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-lender-political-conflict-0504-20140503,0,2333889,full.column
May 4, 2014
From: The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
The New Haven Register
reports
Nutmeggers say higher taxes, cost of living forcing them to ...
rethink living in Connecticut
The
Federation notes that Connecticut’s state and local taxes are driven by State
and Municipal Personnel Related Costs as many State Retiree Pensions exceed
$100,000 and are as high as $258,000. Connecticut homeowners
are losing their homes to Tax Lien Sales as approximately 80% of local property
taxes fund personnel related expenses of Town and Board of Education budgets as
some conclude
Big
Labor is The elephant in the political spending room.
**********
This Week we Got a Glimpse
into the
CHAOS ON THE HILL IN HARTFORD
(and it’s not over yet)
Governor Malloy’s questionable plan to spend $1.7 million
state taxpayer dollars to mail stipend checks of $55 and $110 to taxpayers
making up to $400,000 - as he promoted a phantom surplus of $505 million - has
been cancelled. On April 30th CTMirror.org reported that Tax receipts plunge,
next CT budget $300M in deficit “leaving
legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy just one week
to fix it, according to a new report Wednesday from fiscal analysts”.
On Friday, CTNewsJunkie.com in their article captioned Gubernatorial Candidates Say No Tax
Hikes Despite Deficit Projections quotes
Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, who is looking for the Republican
nomination for Governor, “…the next
governor faces a $2.7 billion budget deficit”, referring to combined
projections for 2016 and 2017. Governor
Malloy is also promising no tax hikes.
So where is the money going to come from? On Aug 18, 2011 the NY Times reported Connecticut Workers
Approve Contract They Had Rejected which included a four year no-layoff clause. Are we at the
end of the contracts? If so, will there
be layoffs or concessions? Or a return
to the deep pockets of the taxpayers!
********************
As State legislators gathered yesterday to pass a State
budget, news reports have kept us current throughout the week of the antics by
our State elected officials in their desperate attempts to find the money
(taxpayers’ money) to fund their out-of-control spending to support state union
contracts where some are earning high six figure salaries above $500,000 and
pensions reaching $200,000 with lucrative healthcare benefits along with
millions of taxpayer dollars dedicated to corporate welfare based on
speculative job creation. (see stats below).
In March of 2014 it was reported Analysts: Malloy's budget for
Connecticut never was balanced
The Hartford Business Journal
wrote State aid to businesses hits overdrive
under Malloy noting: The Malloy
administration has opened Connecticut's
credit and grant window to businesses to the tune of $234.7 million the last
two fiscal years. That's about 74 percent more than the state handed out in the
previous six-year period, a Hartford
Business Journal analysis shows.
The latest report from CTMirror
captioned CT budget relies on $75M in new-found
‘miscellaneous’ tax revenues notes -
The new $19 billion state budget the House of Representatives is expected to
adopt late Saturday relies nearly $200 million in fund sweeps, risky savings
assumptions and other gimmicks to stay in balance – including the last-minute
discovery of $75 million in “miscellaneous” tax revenue.
In January, 2014, Steve Malanga revealed
within his article captioned State debts overshadow
brightening revenue picture that a January, 2014 study by the Mercatus
Center ranked
the states in terms of solvency: three of the states -
California, Connecticut and New York -
ranked 46th, 48th and 45th, respectively on long-run solvency thanks in
part to their mountains of debt. The study
defined insolvency as, “ability of a government to pay all the costs of doing
business, including expenditure obligations that normally appear in each annual
budget, as well as those that show up only in the years in which they must be
paid.” Page
35 of the Report at the following web link provides information on Connecticut. http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/Arnett_StateFiscalCondition_v1.pdf
The Governor’s latest Smoke and Mirrors Budget also provides
insight into New
CT budget missing $52M to cover union retirement benefits as reported by CTMirr.org - If Connecticut’s
chief fiscal watchdog is correct, there’s a $52 million hole in the new state
budget Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and majority Democratic
legislators hope to enact Saturday.
Despite a warning sent
to the administration seven
months ago by Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo – also a
Democrat – the compromise budget unveiled Friday by the governor and
legislative leaders fails to include $51.6 million to cover contractually required
health insurance costs for retired workers….. Malloy also failed to include the
$51.6 million in the $19 billion budget he proposed for 2014-15 in
February. The legislature’s nonpartisan
Office of Fiscal Analysis issued a report in mid-March concluding that the
governor’s plan was $69.4 million out of
balance, and that the $51.6 million
shortfall in the retiree health care account was the chief culprit. http://ctmirror.org/new-ct-budget-missing-52m-to-cover-union-retirement-benefits/
But spending $1.7 million to send $55 checks
was not the first questionable proposal of our Governor. Remember his plan to eliminate the car
tax? The outcry from Democrat Mayors was
heard loud and clear as they understood the loss of car tax revenue to their
community would in turn significantly increase local property taxes as
taxpayers are now paying approximately 80% of municipal budgets to fund local
government employee personnel related costs.
And more recently, there is an outcry from business groups
who have threatened legal action if the Governor enacts a new fee on health
insurance policies to pay for a state-level health reform initiative which would cost
$3.2 million for expenses and new staff as noted in the article
captioned
Business groups question Malloy health reform funding plan.
Now of course funding problems at the State and within the
169 Towns in Connecticut
could be solved if Governor Malloy and our State legislators supported reforms
to State mandates – such as Collective Bargaining and Binding Arbitration
Laws. But as Governor Malloy proclaims
himself to be the son of organized labor, there is little chance of that
happening as Connecticut taxpayers, many of whom have little to no pension to
rely on for themselves, dig down deep to pay State employee pensions as high as
$258,000 a year.
Five years ago, I wrote the following Arbitration Puts Public Unions In Driver's Seat - Collections. Since then, nothing
has changed. Makes you wonder what will happen when private sector workers in
Connecticut can no longer afford to meet the financial demands of State and
municipal public sector union contracts?
***********************
In 2013, the State of Connecticut Paid
48,115 Retirees Pensions Totaling
over $1.5 Billion - $1,535,268,324. Many
Annual Pensions exceed $100,000, with the highest Annual Pension at $283,273.
More can be found at - Pensions - When at the Website, Click Search, Next at RANGE, Go to MORE
THAN, and Insert the number 1 in the box next to it. Then Twice Click on Total Pension Payments -This will
allow you to see the highest to the lowest pensions being paid. If you have a question call
860-841-8032.
**********
In 2013, the State of Connecticut Paid to 95,257 Employee Compensation
Totaling Over $5.6 Billion - $5,625,990,735. Many salaries, wages and fringe benefits
exceeded $500,000 with the highest at $2.9 Million.
More can be found at - Employee
Compensation - When at the Website,
Click ADVANCED SEARCH, then SEARCH, Then Twice Click on TOTAL -This will
allow you to see the highest to the lowest being paid. If you
have a question call 860-841-8032.
**********
As Kevin Rennie in his column reports Short-Term
Judges Win Pension Lottery - Collections, he notes: You are
right to wonder why a hefty tax increase and claims to have gotten spending
under control have not brought stable finances to state government. Sometimes a
jarring example will help explain something as complex as Connecticut's troubled, growing budget. Imagine snagging a $100,000 a year pension
after only a few years of work. It's happening now in Connecticut. Democratic and Working Families
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy nominated 15 lawyers to serve
as judges of the Superior Court, though there appears to be no shortage of
judges. Three of those nominees are in their 60s. The oldest of the three, at
67 years old, will in three years receive a pension of two-thirds of his
$147,000 annual salary, or about $100,000 a year for life. It would be hard to
think of another institution with such a generous and costly pension
arrangement. Connecticut law awards a judge a pension of two-thirds of his annual salary
when he turns 70. It does not matter if a judge served 20 days or 20
years, the judge wins the pension lottery. Life spans being what they are,
especially for the college and graduate school educated, the taxpayers probably
are on the hook for well over $1 million for each judge. In addition to
receiving his pension, the judge may supplement his income by more than $1,000
a week by carrying on some duties after retirement. Continue reading at …. http://articles.courant.com/2013-03-08/news/hc-op-rennie-judges-pensions-give-clue-to-budget-w-20130308_1_pension-bonanza-hewett-pension-benefit
***********************
The Day - 'A financial time bomb': State
pension system is ... one of the country's most
underfunded
By Johanna Somers Publication:
theday.com January 13, 2014 Retired
Connecticut state employees received the highest annual pensions in the
country in 2011, despite contributing less out of their paychecks than the
national average. That meant the state's pension system was the second-most
underfunded in the United States,
in worse shape than every other state's except Illinois'.
Connecticut would have to allocate about $70 million in additional
funds each year for 18 years to close the funding gap in the major state
employees' pension system, according to actuarial estimates. And that
wouldn't address the $11 billion gap in the teachers' retirement system,
which would need tens of millions of dollars more every year during that same
period. Continue reading at …. http://www.theday.com/article/20140112/NWS12/140119903/%27A-financial-time-bomb%27:-State-pension-system-is-one-of-the-country%27s-most-underfunded
Public pensions are eating taxpayers
alive
By Jeff Jacoby | Globe
Columnist March 23, 2014
USA Today | by Dustin Racioppi | March 21, 2014
In Illinois, which has the lowest credit rating in the U.S. and was most
recently downgraded for failing to properly fulfill pension obligations, its
$187 billion pension liability represents 318% of its revenues despite a range
of overhauls, according to Moody's. Connecticut's $57 billion
liability is at 243%, and Kentucky's
$41 billion liability is 211% relative to revenues, according to the service.
Read complete article at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/21/public-pensions-in-perilous-straits/6684383/