During a stop to reSET in Hartford, Gov. Dannel Malloy continued his pitch that he started last week to cut spending and transform government spending.
reSET is a non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurs based in Hartford. With a ping-pong table in the back, shared tables with neon colored chairs, Gov. Malloy said it’s an example of what more businesses will look like in the future. He said with that in mind, state government has to adjust to meet their economic development needs.
"Quite frankly it’s just making people aware that the world is changing outside of Connecticut and if Connecticut wants to continue to be a player, it's got to change very rapidly."
Malloy pointed to his administration’s investments through the Small Business Express program and other initiatives that make the projects at a place like reSET possible. reSET is where robots are developed and programmed by Movia Robotics to help educate children on the autism spectrum. The WearSafe tag is also a product with a home at reSET, which is used in tandem with a smartphone to tell loved ones someone is safe.
"We started when we got elected doing them and we've got a long way to go to catch up to Brooklyn or Orange County or Chicago or Boston but we were dead in the water a few years ago” Gov. Malloy said.
Pointing out Boston is key because that’s where General Electric announced it would relocate to last month, a blow to Malloy’s administration.
With a nod to improving the state’s business climate, the governor proposed a budget that slashes state spending by more than $1.5 billion over two years, roughly 15 percent overall. He said the state has to respond to changing economic times and that includes through spending cuts and layoffs.
"If we have revenue then we can debate how we spend it” Gov. Malloy said. “If we have less revenue we have to debate how we preserve our assets. You can't have the growth argument whether you have growth or not."
The budget Malloy presented is based on revenue estimates in the 1 percent range rather than 4 percent which had become standard in the years before the 2008 recession.
Malloy argues that if the state gets its fiscal house in order while protecting what he describes as “core services” then a better business climate will follow, with the state not relying on tax hikes to companies and small businesses as the way out of tough times.
"I think that there's a begrudging recognition that things have got to change” he said.
