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.
*****************
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.
*****************
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!!!
*****************
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
*****************
The following are
State Pensions Paid over
$200,000
Get More Information on State Employee Pensions on the
Name
|
Total Pension Payments
|
Veiga,
John
|
276,364.26
|
Blechner, Jack
|
270,234.60
|
Henken,
Eleanor
|
239,708.52
|
Blanchette, Edward A
|
226,658.28
|
Hartley, Harry
|
211,652.28
|
Judd, Richard L
|
208,335.30
|
Sigman,
Eugene
|
204,352.26
|
Dibenedetto, Anthony T
|
203,594.04
|
Raye,
John R
|
200,597.34
|
************************
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
************************
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.
************************
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
*****************
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
*****************
For Further Information on Employees Earning Salaries and
Benefits and Pensions, Check Out
Connecticut Transparency Website
*****************
Neither Admit Nor
Deny: Big Business Allowed To Pay Millions to Avoid Jail
*****************
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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