Malloy Budget Day 2: Barnes faces the music

 

benbarnesOn the day after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal, Benjamin Barnes, left, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, spent the afternoon Thursday with the legislative Appropriations Committee.

Barnes, the architect of the two-year, $40 billion spending package, defended $590 million in cuts. The bipartisan committee was polite, if highly critical, during a four-hour session with him.

“I think we all understand the difficulties,” said Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the budget-setting committee. She said that when she goes to the grocery store or get gasoline, people stop her and ask how the state could have a billion-dollar deficit.

“How is it you have to find a billion dollars?” she said, quoting constituents. “How did we get to this point where we have to cut a billion dollars out of the budget? Where did we go wrong from last year to this year?”

“The answer is that we have some areas of our budget that are growing very fast and unfortunately, some of them are not under our control,” Barnes replied, totaling debt service, state employee retirement and health benefits as the main drivers.

“The can was kicked down the road and now we have to pick it up and carry it,” Barnes continued, stressing that the caseloads in the Department of Developmental Services are growing by 10 percent per year. “It’s a billion-dollar agency, so caseload growth is a factor.”

robkaneSen. Rob Kane, R-Watertown, left, ranking member of the committee, said he believes the budget bottom exceeds the constitutional spending cap by at least $47 million. Barnes said he believes it is a savings.

“We do not believe what we are saving is subject to the spending cap,” he said. “I guess I’m saying you can’t have it both ways,” countered Kane, whose district includes Oxford and part of Seymour.

Rep. Cathy Abercrombie, D-Meriden, who as co-chairman of the Human Services Committee is fielding a lot of complaints about the $590 million in cuts, mostly from social services, might have summed up the spending cuts.

The budget proposal includes moving those with family incomes of $33,000 off Medicaid and into the AccessHealthCT insurance exchange. It would also force frail elderly residents to pay more for at-home care. About $25 million would be cut from mental-health programming.

“All I can say is wow,” she said.