Connecticut Budget Crisis Could 'Devastate' Towns

Town leaders are beginning to fret about Connecticut's growing budget problems, raising concerns that the growing deficit—now projected to balloon to more than $1 billion next year—could mean reductions in town aid that the state makes each year to Connecticut's 169 towns.

In a meeting Thursday of the Housatonic Valley Council of towns, municipal leaders learned that the measures being considered by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to balance the budget could bring steep cuts in state municipal aid, according to the News Times of Danbury.

Most towns in Connecticut each get tens of millions in education and road funds from the state each year and town leaders for years have complained that cutbacks in that aid have already strained local budgets and have forced higher local property taxes. Any additional cuts would be devastating to local communities and could result in layoffs in local school systems, the News Times quoted local leaders as saying.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has already cut $170 million in spending in late November, which is the maximum allowed by a governor without legislative approval.