You are reading that correctly – despite the Governor denying this reality 48 hours ago, Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Ben Barnes, is addressing a legislative committee today and will admit that the state budget deficit is at least $365 million dollars.
In the days leading up to the election, the Malloy Administration stuck to their claim that the state budget deficit was $60 million.
Just three days after the election, the number they’d admit too increased by another $50 million.
But as Keith Phaneuf wrote in the CTMirror, and as was reported here at Wait, What?, the true deficit was at least $300 to $350 million.
A state budget of $365 million is, as Phaneuf writes, “nearly double the level needed to compel Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to prepare a deficit-mitigation plan, according to written testimony from Malloy’s budget chief.”
Barnes’ told the Legislature that, “All told, these changes result in a projected deficit of $365 million.”
Barnes was silent on why the Malloy administration provided State Comptroller Kevin Lembo with different, and inappropriately more rosy numbers just days ago.
Check back tomorrow for some more information about the budget deficit and why the Malloy Administration might have worked so hard to keep the magnitude of the problem secret for as long as they could…
The CT Mirror, CTNewsjunkie and other media outlets have updated stories on the budget deficit. You can find the latest details about the ugly budget situation at the CTMirror http://www.ctmirror.org/story/18201/malloys-budget-chief-confirms-365m-deficit-testimony-legislature and at CTNewsjunkie: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/deficit_hits_365m/
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