The state has reduced its fiscal 2015 deficit by nearly half over the last month, thanks largely to Connecticut’s $36 million settlement with Standard & Poors over its ratings of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, Office of Policy Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes said in a letter Friday.
The settlement, announced earlier this month, and a series of budget rescissions announced Jan. 23 combined to reduce the deficit from nearly $121 million to $61.2 million, Barnes told Comptroller Kevin Lembo.
Barnes said his forecast assumed 25 percent growth in personal income tax collections in April.
Those collections have been tricky to predict, increasing 20 percent in 2013 and falling 20 percent in 2014.
Each percentage point the prediction is off is worth $13 million.
