A $31.5 million round of budget rescissions announced last month only took a $20.2 million chunk out of the state’s projected budget deficit, the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis said Tuesday.
The OFA now projects a fiscal year 2015 deficit of $182.3 million, down from a $202.5 million estimate last month, which is well above the $89 million estimate released Monday by Comptroller Kevin Lembo.
Similar to the impacts of a November round of rescissions, OFA said the January cuts did not pack a full punch because of projected lapses in various state agency accounts.
OFA gave an example: If it was anticipating a $10,000 lapse in an account that was subject to a $5,000 rescission, that cut would not reduce the deficit.
That was the case for 29 percent or $9.1 million of Malloy’s January cuts.
The January rescissions could also result in the loss of $2.3 million in federal revenue, OFA said.
The November and January rescissions combined represent approximately 0.5 percent of the state’s budget, OFA said, but the impact amounts to only 0.3 percent of the budget.
