The state budget for the current fiscal year is running a $99.5 million deficit, according to a report released Friday by the Office of Policy Management.
OPM is developing a list of budget rescissions to address the deficit before the end of the fiscal year in June. And last week, the agency’s leader, Secretary Benjamin Barnes, asked state agencies to reduce spending and freeze hiring.
During his recently concluded reelection campaign, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy repeatedly disputed deficit projections from the Office of Fiscal Analysis, arguing that they assumed spending increases that would not occur.
Barnes said in a statement Friday that the administration’s recent actions to address the deficit are consistent with Malloy’s previous statements.
“That no matter what the projections are we will manage and administer the budget so that there will be no deficit,” Barnes said. “It is important to remember that this is a prediction of what would happen now and in the future should we do nothing — and doing nothing is not an option.”
Malloy has also pledged not to raise taxes, which is how he closed a budget deficit in 2011. Barnes reiterated that pledge on Friday, saying any gaps would be resolved by “prudent decision making and difficult choices, should they be necessary.”
OPM is predicting a more difficult situation for fiscal year 2016, when expenditures are forecasted to outpace revenues by just shy of $1.1 billion. OPM is projecting deficits of $1.03 billion and $1.19 billion fiscal years 2017 and 2018.
Major cost drivers for the years ahead include healthcare spending for active and retired state employees, debt service and Medicaid.
