Budget Analysts: Connecticut Faces Deficits in Billions

According to the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, the budget shortfall Connecticut faces in the short term of $100 million pales in comparison to what awaits the state over the next three fiscal years.

Alan Calandro, who manages the Office of Fiscal Analysis, told members of the Appropriations Committee of the General Assembly that the state faces a deficit of $1.3 billion  in 2016, $1.4 billion in 2017 and $1.7 billion in 2018.

Republicans accuse Democrats of trying to downplay the numbers during the heated 2014 campaign season.

“We’re no further along today than we were four years ago before the tax increase and that’s a problem," said Republican State Rep. Themis Klarides, the House minority leader-elect.

Republicans are now calling for a special session of the General Assembly to address future deficits, especially in light of the $54 million in cuts ordered by the Office of Policy and Management on Thursday.

Democrats insist the problem isn't as bad as Republicans make it out to be, going with the governor's line that the state has a spending issue with a small fraction of a $20 billion budget.

“It’s a deficit. It’s a small deficit," said Democratic State Sen. Beth Bye, of West Hartford, who chairs the Appropriations Committee. "We’d rather not have it but we’re going to mitigate it and end the year with a balanced budget.”

Both Bye and Klarides gave the governor credit for making difficult budget decisions but that's where many of the similarities end.

Bye said a special session is nothing more than rhetoric coming from the minority party.

“I mean if you look back two years or four years at this very same meeting, our situation was much worse, much worse," Bye said. "So I think that’s political."

The last time lawmakers met outside of the regular session to discuss budget issues was back in December 2012.

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