Connecticut’s gap between what it collects and spends keeps getting uglier.
On Friday, Comptroller Kevin Lembo announced that the deficit projection for fiscal 2013 has grown to $140 million.
The budget gap exists despite lawmakers and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy making $365 million in emergency budget cuts about a month ago.
In a letter to Malloy, Lembo said that he agrees with new consensus projections that state revenue has eroded by $33.9 million, which has increased the size of the state’s budget shortfall.
“The slow growth in the national economy has created increasing demand for state services while at the same time producing lower revenue collections,” Lembo said. “Traditionally, even after the national economy improves, there is a lag before the state budget realizes the full benefit of the general economic improvement.”
Lembo said there is still an opportunity for the current budget year to recover.
“April is a significant month for income tax collections,” Lembo said. “Recent federal tax changes combined with favorable market performance could result in a shift of capital gains revenue from future years to the current budget year. This would improve the budget forecast, so we will continue to modify our projections based on actual experience.”
