Many cities in Connecticut are reconsidering their spending decisions as they prepare to fill new funding gaps following a two-year, $41 billion budget approved last week by state legislators, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The new budget agreement, which cleared enough votes in the state House and Senate to survive a veto from Gov. Dan Malloy, provided the state’s capital of Hartford with $40 million designed to help that city avoid bankruptcy. But it left other cities with at least $30 million less than the previous budget, according to a partial tally of cuts by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. That means some will likely have to resort to service cuts or tax increases. One major ratings firm, S&P Global Ratings, said Friday that “weak credit conditions across local governments…could persist for some time” due to reduced amounts of state aid and a stagnant statewide economy.
