With Connecticut’s economy reeling from the coronavirus, legislators insist they won’t hike gasoline taxes or impose tolls this summer — even with new projections the transportation program is headed for collapse in just over one year. Gov. Ned Lamont outlined the urgency last week when he and the legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal analysts noted the STF — the portion of the budget that pays off borrowing for infrastructure repairs — runs out of cash in the fiscal year beginning July 2022. New projections last week showed Connecticut’s record-setting $2.5 billion reserve will be gone one year from now. Lamont and legislators will have their hands full keeping that in balance and likely won’t be able to spare any General Fund resources to keep transportation afloat.
CT can delay its transportation financing debate only a few months more