State Budget: $600M In Tax Cuts and Major Investments In Our Town

May 10, 2022

After months of negotiation and hearing input from residents across our state, I am happy to pass along great news. The House and Senate passed a historic state budget adjustment package which provides $600 million in tax relief for working families.

The budget adjustment bill was just signed into law by Governor Lamont, becoming the largest tax reduction in Connecticut history

The budget adjustment CUTS YOUR TAXES by:
  • saving Cheshire taxpayers ~$20 MILLION with 50% school construction reimbursement
  • enacting a $250 per-child tax credit for middle-earning families
  • increasing the property tax credit from $200 to $300
  • speeding up a plan to eliminate taxes on pensions and annuities.
  • suspending Connecticut’s excise tax on gasoline through November 30, 2022 
  • funding payments for earned income tax credit eligible households

The budget adjustment INVESTS IN OUR COMMUNITY:

  • $2.6 MILLION for Gaylord Hospital upgrades 
  • $200,000 for Cheshire's Veteran's Memorial 
  • $150,000 to build a parking lot in the West End to support economic development 
  • $600,000 in grant funding for Ball & Socket Arts
  • $20,000 for the Meriden-Wallingford Chrysalis Inc. to support victims of domestic violence
  • grants access to $23 MILLION in children's mental health grants
  • opens a new children's mental health outpatient program serving our area
  • keeps our schools fully funded
Last year, we passed a bipartisan budget that didn’t raise taxes and made historic payments toward our pension debt. Because of our smart reforms, strong returns, and Federal aid, we are able to make vital investments across the state in children's mental health, workforce development and more. See below for highlights:
Investing in Our Children
  • Provides approximately $100 million in new investments in childcare
  • $25.3 million to increase the number of infant and toddler slots at state-funded childcare centers by 1,300 (over an 80% Increase)
  • Provides more than $83 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act investments for early childhood, including stabilization grants for school readiness providers, funding for Care 4 Kids, and investments in infrastructure
  • Provides $26.2 million to support the Sheff settlement to end more than 30 years of litigation
  • Expands state funding for special education by $15.5 million
  • More than $97 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for various K-12 initiatives and organizations, including providing $30 million for additional free school meals over the next year, $28 million for mental health-related grants, and $11 million to subsidize magnet school tuition during this time of recovery
 
Cutting Crime
  • Support regional in-state strategies to reduce auto theft and violence
  • Promote safety on rural roads by stepping up speed enforcement
  • Fill federal funding gap to victim service providers
  • Expand services and supports for domestic violence victims
  • Invest in evidence-informed community violence intervention programs
  • Establish a community gun violence intervention and prevention program under the Department of Public Health
  • Provide a public health response to reducing homicides
  • Strengthen Project Longevity with resources to reduce group and gun violence
  • Increase law enforcement training on community relations, use of force, and new law and policy
 
Creating a Sustainable State Employee Workforce
  • The budget invests in protecting state services and retaining the valuable employees who provide those services
  • The agreement helps attract and retain talent by providing reasonable increases over a 3-year period, and provides recruitment and retention incentives, especially for hard-to-recruit, in-demand occupations
  • Increases are far less than the inflation rate, and the less than likely result had contracts gone to arbitration
  • Prevents the brain drain that would have occurred approaching the July 1 “retirement cliff”
Taking Care of Our Most Vulnerable Residents
  • 150 new slots in the Department of Social Services for the autism waiver
  • Recreational and community engagement opportunities in the Department of Developmental Services to facilitate socialization and connections for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
  • Infrastructure improvements for public/privately-provided Department of Developmental Services camps
  • Unprecedented Private Provider COLAs, plus additional one-time stabilization funding
  • Support transition to acuity-based nursing home rates
  • Expand the capacity of Child Abuse Centers of Excellence for expert pediatric consultation and training on cases of suspected child maltreatment
  • Expanded Mobile Crisis–statewide 24/7 coverage and linkages with schools and police
  • Developed children’s behavioral health urgent crisis centers
  • $15 million for a new 12-bed psychiatric/medical unit at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center

 

Healthcare Investments
  • Support for Federally Qualified Health Centers to ensure immediate availability of long-acting reversible contraceptives
  • Increase Medicaid rates for family planning clinic services
  • Additional funding for early screening and detection of breast and cervical cancer
  • Increase Medicaid rates for mammograms
  • COVID-19 Preparedness: $157.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for testing/kits and state agency expenses
  • $30.0 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to strengthen response to lead poisoning and achieve lead safe homes
  • Fully fund per capita formula grants to local and district departments of health
Please reach out to me if you have any questions about what the budget adjustment means for you and your family!