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12/26/2017 11:00 PMYes we have a budget, but we understand that there is still work to do.
Earlier this month I had the privilege of meeting with some of my Killingworth constituents to not only discuss current legislative matters, but also address the recently passed state budget.
Let me first say that approving a state budget was imperative to finally being able to move the state forward. I can’t emphasize that enough. If we had delayed the process any longer, we were ultimately dooming our districts to the governor’s executive order and massive educational and municipal cuts that would have come as a result.
Entering this legislative session, we were faced a massive deficit and rather than simply finding new ways to tax our residents out of it, we came up with a plan to change how the state operates structurally. As a caucus, we opposed any budget that was centered around yet another massive tax increase. Due to our persistence during negotiations, we were able to institute a stronger spending cap, created a cap on state borrowing, and reduce the mandates imposed upon our municipalities and eliminate several new tax proposals by the majority party.
We have also petitioned the secretary of the state to call us back into special session before the end of the year in order to restore funding for the Medicare Savings Program, a program aimed at helping our residents who are most in need. In addition, our aim and goal is to also address the governor’s cuts to our local schools.
Our focus has been and will always be to do what is best for the residents of Connecticut and we understand that we still have a lot of work to do.