by Gail Lavielle

Published in The Hour on September 22, 2010

During the last several months, I have visited with thousands of people in Norwalk and Wilton.  Almost every conversation reflects one common concern:  people fear that neither they nor their children can have a future in Connecticut.

These are people we all know.   They are seniors and people on the verge of retirement who feel they cannot afford to stay here – and even if they can, they think they can live better in another state.  They are college graduates who are anxious to start work, but cannot find jobs in Connecticut.  They are experienced professionals who have either been unemployed for months, or fear losing a job they still have at any moment.  They are parents who plan to leave when their children finish school.  They are small business owners who are struggling to stay afloat, and have often sacrificed their own salaries so that they can keep their workforce employed.

These are people who believe that hard work should lead to a better life.  But having worked hard at a job, raising a family, or getting an education, they are now seeing their incomes reduced, their savings depleted, and their prospects become more uncertain than they could ever have imagined.  It’s not surprising that they doubt the ability or the will of state government to help.

What has brought people to this pass?  One of the highest tax burdens in the country.  One of the environments most unfriendly to business in any ranking of states.  The country’s highest per capita state debt and state deficit.  Serial business closings.  Runaway unemployment.  Uncertainty about tax policy, business policy, and aid for education and towns.

The situation is crying out for action.  Yet the General Assembly’s supermajority, which can do whatever it wants, has resisted, with remarkable consistency, taking any initiative to reverse Connecticut’s downward economic spiral.

The 2010-2011 biennial budget could have made our state government leaner, more efficient, and more productive; could have avoided increasing taxes for people and businesses; could have maintained funding for municipalities; and could have lowered the deficits projected for future years.  Yet the supermajority voted down countless proposals to do all of these things.  Instead, it gave Connecticut one of the country’s ten highest tax increases — $1.5 billion, including a 10% corporate tax surcharge and a personal income tax increase of nearly 30%.  It also raised fees by $110 million, borrowed $1.3 billion, cut municipal aid by $50 million, and increased spending by $300 million.

The result?  This budget went into deficit almost immediately.  Depleting the state’s rainy day fund and borrowing against future revenues led to a downgrading of Connecticut’s bond rating, raising the cost of its debt, which is borne by taxpayers.  Funds raised from long-term bonding are being used to cover operating expenses because of cash shortfalls.  Unfunded liabilities for state employee pensions and retirement costs exceed $43 billion.  Annual deficits of more than $3.4 billion loom for fiscal 2012 and beyond.

The supermajority’s leadership has not shown enough respect for the people of Connecticut to offer an explanation for allowing this state of affairs to continue.  Last May, the Senate chair of the Appropriations Committee was asked during a floor debate why the state’s impending annual deficits weren’t being addressed.  Her answer:  “We’re hoping for an immediate and abrupt turnaround in our economy.”

Hope is not a financial strategy.  It is time to move forward with concrete solutions.  Time to reduce the tax pressure on people, businesses, and municipalities.  Time to make it easier for businesses to hire and operate.  Time to shrink the size of state government and make it more efficient and productive.  Time to face the realities of fundamental education and infrastructure needs and commit to long-term plans for meeting them.

These are the responsibilities of our legislators – no exceptions.  The time for rhetoric is past.  It is time to get things done.

Connecticut’s only natural resource is its people and their native ingenuity.  They will not relinquish their future.  If we don’t act now to ensure them that future in Connecticut, they will seek it elsewhere.  There is no time to waste.  Connecticut’s future – our future — is at stake.

Gail Lavielle is a candidate for State Representative, 143rd Assembly District (Wilton and Norwalk).