$131.1 Million State Budget Deficit, National Debt $16.61 Trillion,
Another Federal Deadline May 18, Connecticut to lose $56M in sequestration,
Will Your Town Be Sending You a Supplemental Property Tax Bill….
March 2, 2013
From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep,
President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
Obama sequester order sets cuts in motion
March 01, 2013|Damian Paletta WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)
President Barack Obama late Friday instructed federal agencies to begin
implementing across-the-board spending cuts, setting in motion a rare budget
process that will likely play out for months. The order formalizes the
so-called sequester, mandatory cuts to spending that stem from Washington’s failure to
reach a replacement deficit-reduction agreement. Obama’s
Friday night directive begins a sort of domino effect, as it will move from the
White House to federal agencies, state and local governments, employees,
businesses, contractors and vendors. The ultimate impact on each of these
groups is unknown and won’t be determined for some time. See text of White House public notification of the directive.
Federal agencies will now inform their
employees and business partners about the size and scope of the reductions, and
in some cases they will begin to cut spending immediately. Grants and subsidies
will soon be curtailed. But many of the cuts aren’t expected to kick in for
several weeks or months, rolling out a slow-building mechanism for tightening
federal spending. Continue reading at ….. http://articles.marketwatch.com/2013-03-01/economy/37374886_1_federal-agencies-sequester-cuts-account
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The Federation Would Like to Know:
THE GOVERNOR’S RECENTLY
RELEASED BUDGET WILL DRAMATICALLY IMPACT LOCAL BUDGETS AND PROPERTY TAXES! DOES YOUR LOCAL FY 2013-2014 BUDGET PROPOSAL CONTAIN
THE GOVERNOR’S PROPOSALS? OR WILL YOUR TOWN BE SENDING YOU A SUPPLEMENTAL
PROPERTY TAX BILL IF THE GOVERNOR’S BUDGET IS APROVED BY THE STATE LEGISLATURE?
The Governor has
released his budget. Towns and Boards of
Education are formulating their budgets to determine how much homeowners and
businesses in their towns will pay in property taxes for the upcoming Fiscal
Year 2013-2014. The Federation would
like to know if your Town Officials, when presenting their local Budgets, are
incorporating any or all of the factors within Governor Malloy’s budget which could dramatically impact
municipal budgets and property taxes to include millions of dollars in lost
revenue; i.e. automobile taxes with assessments under $20,000, directing State
aid, previously received by towns, to Boards of Education, etc. If not, are
they presenting supplemental budgets which provide some indication as to “specifically”
where cuts would be made (police, fire, town, etc.) and/or property taxes
increased if the Governor’s budget is adopted by the State legislature. Please write
to fctopresident@aol.com.
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THE RESET: One fiscal crisis gives way to another
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press March 1, 2013
Another deadline comes May
18, when legislation permitting the Treasury to borrow above the current $16.4
trillion debt limit runs out. Failing to raise it further threatens a
first-ever default on the government's debt. It
took over 200 years for government borrowing, begun to help finance the
Revolutionary War, to climb above $1 trillion, which it did in President Ronald Reagan's first term. By Friday, the national debt stood at a whopping $16.61 trillion.
After the debt limit, another big deadline comes Oct. 1 when the government's
new fiscal year begins. If new spending bills
aren't passed by then for every department and agency, Congress must yet again
pass emergency stopgap legislation. Read
article at http://www.ctpost.com/news/politics/article/THE-RESET-One-fiscal-crisis-gives-way-to-another-4320782.php
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by Christine
Stuart | Mar 1, 2013 11:30am CTNewsJunkie.com
Click State Budget for additional postings by
CtNewsJunkie.com on the State’s Budget
State
Comptroller Kevin Lembo believes the state’s current budget deficit is bigger
than both the legislature’s Office of Fiscal Analysis and the governor’s budget
office. On Friday, Lembo certified a
$131.3 million deficit, which is about $9 million lower than the one he certified
at the beginning of February. Earlier this week the legislature’s Office of
Fiscal Analysis pegged this year’s deficit at $128 million and the governor’s
Office of Policy and Management estimated that it was $55.7 million. In
Friday’s letter to Gov. Dannel
P. Malloy, Lembo said that he continues to agree with the revenue forecast,
although the spending trend that he is using is about $75.6 million above
estimates by the governor’s budget office. The primary difference falls within
the Medicaid appropriations where caseloads continue to exceed expectations. Read article at http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/lembo_certifies_131.1m_budget_deficit/#more
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Connecticut to lose $56M in sequestration, with education,
social services to be hit hardest
Click State Budget for
additional postings by CTMirror.org on the State’s Budget
The state legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal
Analysis on Friday released its latest projections of the impact cuts tied to federal budget sequestration
would have on state and municipal governments, as well as social service and
other nonprofit entities. The cuts would be phased in over the remainder of the
federal fiscal year, through September. And Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's
administration, which already faces a $131 million state budget deficit in the
current fiscal year, has warned all state agencies and municipalities to be
prepared to deal with funding losses without seeking supplemental help from the
state budget.
"These cuts promise to be unnecessarily disruptive of
government services and may also serve to further weaken Connecticut's
economy," Malloy's budget chief, state Office of Policy and Management
Secretary Benjamin Barnes, wrote in a recent memo on sequestration. "The state does not anticipate being able to make up
for or replace funding reductions to state or local agencies resulting from
either sequestration or from reductions that result from any federal budget
deal," Barnes added. "... Agencies must be prepared to reduce or
cease program activities, or to absorb or shift funding around to live within
reduced federal funding levels.
According to state legislative analysts, nearly 45 percent
of the $56.1 million in cuts are aimed at education, job training or other
workforce development programs. Nearly $7.6 million would be removed from
special education alone, with another $1.2 million coming from state grants to
improve teacher quality…….As they are phased in, reductions of more than $4.3
million would come from public housing programs, with another $4.2 million
removed from next winter's allocation for the Low Income Heating Energy
Assistance Program. Commonly known as
LIHEAP, the program -- which serves about 150,000 poor Connecticut households -- has struggled in
recent years from steadily shrinking federal funding. Connecticut's share of federal LIHEAP
funding for this winter stood at about $72 million, down from $79.5 million one
year ago and from $98.3 million in 2010-11.
Another $2.5 million would be cut from a federal grant
program that helps Connecticut
pay for supplemental food assistance, health-care referrals and nutrition
education for low-income women with children up to age 5.
Despite these cuts, many health and social service programs
are exempt from sequestration, as are most transportation and income security
programs. Read entire article at http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19311/connecticut-loses-56m-sequestration-education-social-services-hit-hardest