Legislature Can’t Quit Spending Habit

NORWICH- The state has a spending problem. That was the primary message from Rep. Vincent Candelora, ranking member of the legislature’s Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee, as he joined Rep. Chris Coutu of  Norwich in hosting a forum here about the state’s budget woes Tuesday night. Thirty or so people came to the event at City Hall. Together, Candelora and Coutu gave residents a rundown on how Connecticut ended up in such poor financial shape and the steps the legislature took, or didn’t take, to get the state out of its fiscal mess. Through a series of graphs and charts, Coutu showed residents that state spending has outpaced both revenue gains and population growth.

Candelora, a third-generation manufacturer from North Branford, talked about a critical need create a better environment for businesses in this state. Connecticut, the legislators told the crowd, has lost roughly 70,000 private sector jobs. And more than 20,000 businesses have closed over the last two years, 7,000 of those since the beginning of the year. The Republican legislators fielded questions from the crowd on topics such as the relationship between the hiring freeze on state employees and the state’s recent retirement incentive program as well as status of legislative proposals that didn’t come up for a vote. Check out this story from The Day and this one from The Norwich Bulletin.