Rell proposes deep cuts to state budget

Hartford (WTNH) - Governor Jodi Rell's new two-year budget proposal would eliminate over 800 jobs and 23 state agencies as she tries to make up for a projected $8.6 billion deficit. 

Under the plan, about 400 people would lose their job and an additional 450 jobs that are vacant would not be filled.

"The cuts I am proposing were not easy to make, any of them. They are not inconsequential," Rell said in her address.

Rell is also seeking about $275 million in wage and fringe benefit concessions from state labor unions.

"Let me also say unequivocally to all our state employees; You are not the reason, not the cause of our economic troubles, but you must be a part of the solution," Rell said.

The Speaker of the House, Rep. Chris Donovan (D), is a former labor organizer and doesn't think the unions will take the concessions laying down.

"If she's going to have cooperation with the state employee unions right now, to save dollars, they've said they want to be part of the solution. I think coming at them at something that's dear to their heart is not a good way to start," Donovan said. 

In an effort to reduce state trooper overtime, Rell would redeploy about 70 state troopers from Bradley International Airport and other areas.

Eighty-one probate courts would also be eliminated under the plan.

Some of the agencies that Rell wants to eliminate include the  Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, the African-American Affairs Commission and the Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission.

Even if Rell can get all that passed by the Assembly and past the labor unions, she is also depending on other sources. The federal stimulus plan will allocate a couple of a billion dollars to Connecticut and Rell will also be dipping into the state's Rainy Day Fund.

But the budget address was not all bad news. Rell says she will not raise taxes and that there will be no cuts in aid to the state's cities and towns.

"People cannot afford their taxes now. We should not add to their burdens," Rell said.

She is even throwing municipalities a small bone in the form of small amounts of new funding from an expanded bottle bill. She is even endorsing the idea of expanding the bottle bill to include water and juice bottles.

"Well, the devil's in the details. It's a pretty good start in terms of funding. It's a pretty good start as far as some of the labor issues the Governor put on the table," said Mayor John DeStefano (D-New Haven).

Rell's plan also includes some spending, notably about $700 million for schools across the state.

The budget needs approval from the legislature, where Democrats hold veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate. To get around this, Rell proposed that, "no costly new mandate should be allowed without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature."