The legislature’s Appropriations Committee approved a $46 billion, two-year state budget Wednesday evening that, at first glance, largely matches the spending level endorsed by Gov. Ned Lamont in February. But the package, which makes major new investments in higher education, social services and municipal aid, also taps about $240 million from this year’s projected surplus and moves another $350 million in sales tax receipts to an off-budget account. Like Lamont’s plan, the proposed budget would boost expenditures by slightly less than 2% next fiscal year — above the spending lawmakers authorized for the current fiscal year. But because the administration expects to save much more this fiscal year than lawmakers authorized, the actual spending growth in both plans tops 4%. That savings has been a point of contention between the administration and the Appropriations Committee’s Democratic majority since the pandemic began in March 2020. Lamont’s budget office spent $334 million less than was budgeted across all state agencies last fiscal year and projects to save $644 million this fiscal year. Much of that was helped by emergency federal pandemic relief, which covered a large part of state social service costs. But Walker and Osten have said Lamont’s budget office has provided insufficient details on the savings, and the co-chairwomen worry state spending was peeled back too much amid a crisis, and what was spent may not be enough to meet Connecticut’s needs going forward.
Legislature presents its own budget plan, and the stage is set for debate