Malloy Not Convinced Deficit Is Higher
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wasn’t concerned that state Comptroller Kevin Lembo certified a deficit that was $50 million higher than the one his budget office estimated last month.
“These numbers are going to go up and down,” Malloy said after speaking at an event at the Legislative Office Building Tuesday. “We’re moving forward with our package, which addresses a set of numbers.”
In his monthly letter to Malloy, Lembo said statewide agency spending is at a higher level than initially estimated and efforts to curb it have not been realized.
“The comptroller thinks we will spend more money than we did — he may be right,” Malloy admitted. “I was told similar predictions were made last year and they didn’t turn out to be right, so we’re dealing with the numbers we believe currently represent that challenge.”
Malloy, who already used his authority to rescind $123 million from the budget, said he is working on the budget mitigation plan that he will submit to the legislature later this month. About $41 million of the $161 million in rescissions already were assumed as savings because Malloy’s budget office believes it will spend less money in those areas.
“We’re going to continue going down the path of dealing with it in a forthright, fair, and transparent manner,” Malloy said.
He added that he wants to work in a bipartisan manner in order to close the budget gap.