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Health & Fitness

Republican Alternatives for a Better Connecticut by Rep. Mike Molgano

It is my duty as your State Representative to present our legislature with alternative solutions to various issues that arise in our state.

It is my duty as your State Representative to present our legislature with alternative solutions to various issues that arise in our state. I joined my fellow Republican lawmakers recently to propose our alternative budget adjustments for fiscal year 2013.

 

In my opinion, the budget alternative we proposed is a better option for the people of Connecticut who have asked for more efficient government and more tax relief.

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We fund critical education and pension reforms within existing appropriations while providing $310 million in tax cuts for Connecticut's citizens.

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The tax relief proposed in the Republican plan includes the reinstitution of the sales tax exemptions for clothing and footwear under $50 and non-prescription drugs – eliminating the additional taxes that hit middle class families in Stamford.

 

Our proposal also restores the property tax credit to $500. This comes after the Governor had reduced the property credit down to $300 after originally trying to eliminate the credit for property owners completely.

 

Last year, Governor Malloy signed the largest tax hike in our state’s history into law and we still find ourselves in a $200 million deficit. The notion that we can simply tax our way out of our financial troubles has not proven to be true and the tax-payers of Connecticut have had to suffer the consequences for that false philosophy.

 

With this in mind, my Republican colleagues and I created a proposal that spends tax-payer money wisely and efficiently while still providing the appropriate funding levels for our state’s vital programs. We provided more funding for our public safety agencies such as the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection and Criminal Justice Department and maintained the levels of funding to our state’s Motor Vehicle Department and Department on Human Rights, Protection and Advocacy. All together, our budget managed to provide all agencies and services with responsible levels of funds while still saving over $302 million in tax-payer money.

 

Our proposal would continue to make progress toward becoming GAAP compliant. Our proposal fully funds caseload growth in all the human services programs and contains a post-GAAP surplus of $35.8 million - part of the overall $302 million of tax-payer savings.

 

Another key difference in the Republican proposal is the focus on strengthening the state’s Medicaid Fraud Unit. Historically, fraud within these government programs has gone undetected and unreported. With Medicaid being a $5 billion program and close to 25% of our state budget, agency officials estimate there is a 15 percent fraud rate that the state needs to monitor closer. The food stamp debacle last year proved that the state is not managing its resources properly and the people of Connecticut deserve more accountability within their government.

 

To combat fraud, our plan adds 12 new positions to the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for a total of 21 positions in the Unit. Seventy-five (75%) of the cost of the unit is paid for by the federal government. The head of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has said each additional position saves the state $7 million per additional position or $84 million total.

 

With respect to public safety, the proposal modifies the controversial risk reduction credit program passed last year that I voted against to not allow time reduction for those individuals convicted of a violent crime or a crime that involved a firearm. The program applies retroactively to 2006 and allows Connecticut criminals – even those convicted of manslaughter and rape – to earn time-off of their court ordered prison sentences for “good behavior.”

 

Serving on the Education Committee, I am particularly proud of the adjustments we proposed to improve our state’s education system. Currently, our budget adds 750 new school readiness slots for Pre-kindergarten programs. To further meet the early education needs of our state, I have been working side-by-side my Republican colleagues to increase this number to 1,000. Our alternative also proposed increasing funds for Vocational Agriculture programs by $5 million.

 

Some other highlights of this budget:

 

  • We eliminate longevity pay for non-union employees, a bonus for just showing up for work. 10% reduction in salary for agency executive directors, legislators, and commissioners and consolidate the six legislative commissions into a single commission.

 

  • We provide $85 million in additional pension payments to make up for the lack of pension-related savings in the 2011 SEBAC agreement.

 

  • The plan restores funding in order to reduce retired teacher cost-sharing increases proposed by the Governor Malloy.

 

  • We also provide an additional $12 million in funding for the Underground Storage Tank program to prevent the closure of local gas stations.

 

On behalf of the State of Connecticut and my constituents in Stamford, I can sincerely say that our alternative plan is a better plan for Connecticut. I hope the legislature and Governor Malloy give this alternative proposal the attention it deserves.

 

 

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