Apologetic OPM Secy Barnes admit “discrepancy” in budget calculations

benbarnesWhen is the constitutional budget cap not the budget cap? When Gov. Malloy’s budget office cops to a miscalculation.

OPM Secretary Ben Barnes just admitted that a “discrepancy” occurred in calculating the governor’s budget proposal. So the $19.6-billion first year of the biennium that had been $6.3 million below the cap, is now about $55 million above the cap, pending further cuts.

“The discrepancy occurred when data was pulled from an outside vendor in January, 2015,” Barnes said. “A feature of this new vendor’s reporting system resulted in a one-quarter shift which was not recognized by OPM until after the Governor’s budget had been prepared and submitted. Calculation of the expenditure cap using the 3rd quarter data would result in an expenditure cap growth rate of 2.58%, which would then result in a spending cap approximately $60 million lower than the cap presented in the Governor’s budget for FY 2016. The magnitude of this change is due in part to the fact that the quarters in question occurred in the midst of the the Great Recession, thereby leading to a lower rate of growth than in the period shifted one quarter later. Using the revised data, the Governor’s budget would be below the cap by $80 million in FY 2017. On behalf of the agency, I personally apologize for this discrepancy, and commit to working with OFA and the legislature to identify the adjustments necessary to ensure compliance with the expenditure cap.”