State falls deeper into budget hole

WINSTED — Connecticut residents hoping the state’s financial situation would improve this year received news to the contrary this week when state Comptroller Nancy Wyman announced the projected deficit at the end of the 2010 fiscal year will be $624 million, or $235 million more than the most recent estimate by Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

The announcement also came with disappointing news for consumers, as Wyman said the deficit will require the elimination of a proposed sales tax cut. The sales tax was scheduled to drop from 6 percent to 5.5 percent on Jan. 1.

“Although I see a slight improvement in revenues occurring toward the end of the fiscal year, my projection takes into account the accelerating job losses, high unemployment and decline in personal income that Connecticut residents are seeing now and can expect to see in the near future,� Wyman said in a statement released Monday.

Wyman noted that tax payments made quarterly by investors and others based on their estimated year-end income were down 29 percent in September, with total revenue down by $407.6 million.

“That is more than double the revenue drop that would trigger the cancellation of a planned one-half percent reduction in the sales tax that was approved by the General Assembly in its 2010 budget,� she said.

For Connecticut towns, the announcement comes as a harbinger of potentially more painful cuts to follow during the current fiscal year, according to Winsted Town Manager Keith Robbins, who said significant reductions in spending will be necessary for the state to get into the black.

“I would hope the Legislature would come back into session in late November or early December to make changes to the budget because the state cannot continue to operate this way,� Robbins said. “And depending on what happens with town aid, that will determine what happens at the local level.�

Robbins said Winsted residents may have to brace for further cuts to town aid in the form of services, schools, road repairs and even personnel.

“People would still like us to provide services and we still need to maintain our infrastructure at some level, so it will not be an easy discussion,� he said. “If nobody has the money to provide services, the services will need to be reduced, along with personnel.�

Wyman announced last month that she believed the state would be at least $500,000 in the red after the governor’s office estimated the shortfall to be slightly more than $300 million. Job losses and weak collection of income taxes were cited as primary factors contributing to the deficit.

While the situation for everyone looks bleak, Robbins said towns and states all over the country are experiencing the same pain.

“It’s local, it’s state, it’s federal — it’s everywhere,� he said. “We as a state and country spend too much money. You can’t blame it all on Wall Street or car manufacturers or real estate. It’s everybody.�

The state’s two-year $37.6 billion budget was enacted Sept. 1 without Gov. Rell’s signature, two months after the current fiscal year began. Since then, the governor vetoed a budget implementer bill, which she said the state could not afford, and announced that the state’s General Obligations bond outlook issued by Moody’s Investor Services had been downgraded from stable to negative.

Moody’s said the downgrade was a result of the adopted two-year state budget, which relies on borrowing and one-time stimulus funds to balance accounts. Rell called the bond downgrade “an alarm signal that we clearly cannot afford to ignore� and said further reductions in state spending will be necessary.

Latest News

East Canaan's CowPots to face the 'Sharks'

Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.

Photo by Ruth Epstein

CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.

Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss lacrosse ices Kingswood Oxford 19-0

LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.

The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
HVRHS releases second quarter honor roll

FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.

Highest Honor Roll

Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).

Keep ReadingShow less
Thomas Ditto

ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.

When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.

Keep ReadingShow less