State lawmakers will meet behind closed doors with the governor to negotiate the budget this week as the end of the fiscal year creeps closer.
It’s been two and a half weeks since the session ended, and the state is still facing a $5 billion deficit for the next two fiscal years.
The fiscal year ends Friday and the push is to try to get a budget negotiated before then.
If lawmakers cannot agree, Governor Dannel Malloy said he is prepared to issue limited, temporary budgets to get state government running.
State Republicans said they’re frustrated because they have a budget that can be voted on, as does the governor, but Democrats don’t have a budget to offer up yet.
Democratic lawmakers said they hope to offer up a budget for vote on Thursday.
At this point, there are limited details on what a new budget would look like, but one idea being floated is to increase sales tax to go toward cities and towns.
Local
Meanwhile cities and towns are in limbo with their own budgets as they wait to see what they’ll receive in terms of state funding.
