DAMNING: The Complete Benghazi Timeline in Spreadsheet Format

 

 

May 6, 2013

 

 

From:  The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact:  Susan Kniep, President
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

 

 

As the State of Connecticut is Drowning in Debt, several State employees earn over $200,000 up to $1 million and pensions of $200,000 (see below).  As many in Connecticut are unemployed or underemployed, State employees will soon begin to receive their 9% wage increase over three years under a no layoff clause!  

 

 

Bravo – to CTMirror.org and staff – with a special thanks to Keith Phaneuf – for excellent reporting on the State of our State in a three part series captioned

 

Connecticut's budget deficit, and why you should be worried

 

The report can be accessed below.

 

Excerpts:  If Malloy's latest plan is adopted, his own numbers project that a deficit topping $680 million would await him -- or his successor -- in the first budget of the next term. By the second year the red ink approaches $800 million. And if the economy doesn't heat up dramatically before then, those deficits get worse……  Only two taxes, income and sales, raise more than $800 million per year. 

 

 

 

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In February, we learned that “Bridgeport was first on H&R Block's list of the most taxed cities in America” in the article

Report: Bridgeport snowed under -- in taxes - Connecticut Post

 

On Tuesday night - May 7, 2013 at 6:00 pm you can join

Citizens Working for a Better Bridgeport - CW4BB | Facebook

as they challenge further property tax increases at City Hall.  

 

  

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From the Federation:  Budgetary and policy decisions by the Governor and State legislature are creating the perfect storm for Connecticut municipalities and taxpayers.  The Revenue Side of Budgets could be impacted by cuts to town aid, a diversion of town aid to Boards of Education, and/or an inability to collect auto taxes now or in the future, etc.   On the expenditure side of town budgets, 85% of which are dedicated to personnel related expenses, municipal officials are at the mercy of State mandates to include Collective Bargaining/ Binding Arbitration and Prevailing Wage Laws which are drivers of increased property taxes. 

 

 

Taxpayers – Please circulate the following and join the Federation in alerting all homeowners and businesses to the State’s financial crisis.  We must all work to pursue realistic solutions to this crisis to include reforms to State Mandates such as Collective Bargaining/ Binding Arbitration and Prevailing Wage Laws.  Further, taxpayers deserve full transparency, accountability and, more importantly, security to protect us from financial liability as the Governor and legislature give millions of taxpayer dollars to corporations in the name of job creation. 

 

 

Taxpayer Organizations and Town Officials – We suggest you assess the impact the State’s financial crisis will have on your own town’s budget – now and in the future.  If the State is forced to reduce municipal aid and other state funding while state mandates remain in place, the end result could be a dramatic increase in unsustainable property taxes on homeowners and businesses, ultimately resulting in tax lien sales!!!

 

 

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Connecticut's budget deficit, and why you should be worried

 

The following is provided by By Keith M. Phaneuf  of CTMirror.org.  To view more reporting by CTMirror.org on State Finances and Budgets Click on http://www.ctmirror.org/money

 

 

In Part I of this series, Promises, gimmicks and a historic shortfall The Mirror explored the record-setting, $3.7 billion deficit Gov. Dannel Malloy had to close in his first budget, and why one-third of that shortfall remains unresolved. It looked at the economic forces that impeded his efforts and the fiscal gambles the governor took even after evidence began to surface of a sluggish recovery.

 

 

In Part II, Major concessions deal undermined by bad guesses, secrecy The Mirror examines the centerpiece of the governor's efforts to eliminate the deficit -- a concessions agreement with state workers.

 

 

 

In Part III, Serious deficit awaits Malloy -- or his successor -- after 2014 The Mirror analyzes the fiscal gimmicks Gov. Dannel P. Malloy uses to push a major portion of the deficit he inherited beyond the 2014 elections. The story also looks at the governor's aggressive economic assumptions for the next two years, expectations that could worsen the shortfall if they fail to materialize.   Info-graphics by Michael S. Gambina

 

Partisan battle erupts over sale of assets to cover pension payments

By Keith M. Phaneuf  CTMirror.org  May 3, 2013

The partisan battle over state government's finances heated up again this week after a top Republican lawmaker questioned the sale of pension fund assets to cover benefits owed to retired workers.

But state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier countered Friday that "nothing constructive can be gained" by House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero's comments, adding that state assets have to be sold on occasions during tough fiscal times.

"This is more troubling proof that Connecticut's finances are in crisis and that our spending exceeds our revenues in every corner of the state bureaucracy,'' said Cafero, a Norwalk Republican. "We are continually told that our budgets will balance and that we have enough revenue coming in the door. Neither is true.''

Nappier recently informed the state's Investment Advisory Council that her office would liquidate $266 million in "core long-term public investments" from the pension fund for state employees, and $161.5 million from the teachers' fund.   Continue reading at ….. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19914/partisan-battle-erupts-over-sale-assets-cover-pension-payments

 

 

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The following are State Pensions Paid over $200,000

 

Get More Information on State Employee Pensions on the

 

Connecticut Transparency Website

 

 

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 Click to view some of the

Salaries and Benefits Paid to State Employees in Fiscal Year 2012 as the State faces Huge Deficits

 

The State Transparency Website Notes we Paid 5.8 Billion Dollars for 92,456 Employees Earning Salaries and Benefits

 

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REPORT State economy headed for crisis

http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19737/report-state-needs-ramp-efforts-reverse-decades-debt-stagnant-job-growth

 

 

Connecticut's massive long-term debt, deep pockets of poverty and more than 20 years of stagnant job growth threaten to sink the state's economy for decades unless major reforms are enacted, according to a report Wednesday from a national fiscal responsibility group and the University of Connecticut's economic think-tank.

 

Comeback America Initiative founder David M. Walker and UConn economics Professor Fred V. Carstensen, who outlined their report at the Hartford Marriott, called for dramatic new reductions on public worker retirement benefits, deeper investments in transportation, education and economic marketing, and an enhanced "culture of transparency" that will drive greater efficiencies in state spending.

 

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CPI white paper on Connecticut's public pension liabilities

 

How Big Are They and What Can Be Done About Them

 

Connecticut’s longterm pension and healthcare liabilities for its public employees are the sleeping giant of state policy challenges. When calculated using private sector accounting methods, Connecticut has more than $60 billion of unfunded liabilities across the state’s three main pension benefit funds and its retiree healthcare benefits fund . When combined with Connecticut’s roughly $20 billion in bonded debt, this is more than $80 billion of total state debt – nearly 40% of state GDP and the third highest debt per capita in the country. Continue reading at ….. http://www.ctpolicyinstitute.org/content/CPI_Pension_Paper.pdf

 

 

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 Connecticut's Tax Freedom Day is May 13 - The Bristol Press: Bristol ...  Wednesday, April 17, 2013 11:10 PM EDT

Connecticut’s Tax Freedom Day — the day on which the state’s citizens stop working for the government and start working for themselves — arrives on May 13, 2013.  This is the latest date for any state in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation.  This year’s tax freedom date is also eight days later than it was last year, reflecting a truly amazing and alarming jump in our tax burden.

Here are some of Connecticut’s taxes at a glance, as reported by the Tax Foundation: Connecticut’s personal income tax system consists of six brackets and a top rate of 6.7 percent. That rate ranks 18th highest among states levying an individual income tax. Connecticut’s income tax collections per person were $1,617 in 2010, which ranked fourth highest nationally. Connecticut’s corporate income tax system consists of a flat rate of 9 percent.  Continue to read this article at http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2013/04/17/opinion/doc516f635b60c6d441515129.txt

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68% Say Private Sector Employees Work Harder Than Government Workers  Sunday, May 05, 2013 Most Americans still believe government workers are better off than those who work in the private sector.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of American Adults think employees in the private sector work harder than government workers do.  Only nine percent (9%) feel government employees work harder, but 23% are not sure.  (To see survey question wording, click here.) http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/jobs_employment/april_2013/68_say_private_sector_employees_work_harder_than_government_workers

 

 

 

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Connecticut Sales Tax is 10th Highest in Nation - CT by the ...  Numbers

 

 

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For Further Information on Employees Earning Salaries and Benefits and Pensions, Check Out

Connecticut Transparency Website

Employee Compensation               

Pensions

 

 

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Neither Admit Nor Deny: Big Business Allowed To Pay Millions to Avoid Jail

 

 

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Cop out 

New York pays more police in retirement than to patrol our streets — yet pols do nothing to address our skyrocketing pension costs

 

 

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