September 4, 2009
REP. GENGA PROUDLY ANNOUNCES PASSAGE OF
STATE BUDGET SAVING IMPORTANT PROJECTS
State Representative Henry Genga (D-East Hartford) proudly announced his support for a state budget that supports many of his priorities.
Members of the General Assembly Monday passed a compromise state budget that successfully closes an $8.5 billion budget deficit for the next two fiscal years. The $37.6 billion biennial budget was crafted following extensive negotiations with Governor M. Jodi Rell and was passed overwhelmingly in both the House of Representatives and State Senate.
"I am pleased to see that we were able to make a compromise where important programs for some of the most vulnerable populations in our state were protected," Genga said.
The compromise budget includes:
more than $3 billion in cuts over two years;
nearly $1 billion in new revenue through a Millionaire's Tax, where families will pay 6.5% on earnings over $1 million a year and individuals will pay the same rate for earnings over $500,000 a year;
A phase out the Estate Tax for most Connecticut families; estates less than $3.5 million will not be taxed.
"East Harford will maintain its full fixed entitlement for education funding. In previous years, there was an adjustment which was negative for East Hartford. Now there will be no adjustment, which means an additional $484,000 this year. This is something I have been working on with my colleagues for the past year," Genga stated. "The budget successfully protects education by funding Family Resource Centers, Priority School Districts, magnet and charter schools, local education aid, Head Start and Care 4 Kids."
Other projects spared the governor's budget are:
Health and human service programs including AIDS services, LifeStar, Community Health Centers, Medicaid and HUSKY, High Meadows, Cedarcrest Hospital, nursing home funding, elderly transportation services, school-based health centers and adult dental services.
Courthouses, library services, the Children's Trust Fund, the Offices of the Health Care Advocate and Consumer Counsel, the Child Advocate, a new class of State Troopers to maintain staffing levels, and the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
Cuts in the budget are four times greater than the revenues that will be raised with the Millionaire's Tax. Those cuts include reductions to state agencies and commissions, government bureaucracy, services that are not working as designed, and programs that are important but not essential in a budget crisis.