Following the announcement of the Democratic budget revision plan to close the deficit for FY 17, Representative John Frey (R-Ridgefield) had strong words for the Democrats on the legislature’s Appropriations Committee who proposed and voted in favor of this plan, specifically in regard to the large cut to Ridgefield’s funding under the Education Cost Sharing formula.
“The proposed cut to ECS funding for Ridgefield is outrageous,” said Rep. Frey. “Our town’s funding was cut over $900,000 which is a whopping 44% of what the state promised Ridgefield. To add insult to injury, we were labeled an 'over funded' municipality. Municipal aid should always be one of the very last budget items cut, especially when it is municipal aid earmarked for educating our children.
“Until absolutely every other cost saving measure has been addressed, we should not turn to cutting municipal aid for savings. Why are we looking at cutting funds that were promised to municipalities for education when there are other budget items on the table? I highly doubt that the Democrats have really tapped out every other area where there is the potential for savings.”
The Democrats’ budget revisions amount to $569 million in cuts, the same amount in rescissions Governor Malloy proposed in his original budget proposal in February. The governor made his proposal before the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) raised the budget deficit projections for FY 17 from $569 million to over $900 million at the end of February.
"Governor Malloy called this budget ‘incomplete’ and dead on arrival,” added Rep. Frey. “On this, he's right. Besides cutting ECS, it is significantly out of balance. And, they raid the special transportation fund to the tune of over $40 million. It's time to get serious."
Republicans have repeatedly called for long-term structural changes to be made to the state budget in order to avoid facing perpetual deficits in the years ahead. The Office of Fiscal Analysis has said that while the FY 17 deficit stands at a looming $900 million, the deficit for FY 18 and FY 19 is estimated at a much larger $4.5 billion.