Fiscally speaking things haven’t changed enough over the past five months to get Rep. Vincent Candelora of North Branford to vote in favor of any of the items on Friday’s Bond Commission agenda.
“Nothing has changed since August,” Candelora said Thursday. “We’re just going to start borrowing from the bond funds to operate government.”
He argued the state should not be putting operating expenses on the state credit card, which is a general statement about how state Treasurer Denise Nappier is managing the state’s cash flow and not necessarily a statement about any particular item on Friday’s agenda.
Candelora is still bitter about the last Bond Commission meeting in August where $581 million in short-term bond anticipation notes were rolled over into $520 million in long-term general obligation bonds. Gov. M. Jodi Rell gave Nappier the authority to use short-term bonds or BANs back in 2009 when revenues were lagging.
They were used as a stop gap measure to pay for some operating expenses in anticipation of bond authorizations when less tax revenue was coming into the state’s cash pool.
While it’s likely Candelora will be the only member of the 10-member commission to vote against every item Friday’s agenda, at least one other item on Rell’s last Bond Commission agenda is giving others pause.
The $81 million Rell requested to purchase 38 M-8 rail cars for the New Haven and Shore Line East rail lines continues to concern some lawmakers.
The item was postponed from the August meeting after Sen. Eileen Daily of Westbrook raised concerns about the timing of the purchase. Daily was on her way back from an out-of-state conference and unable to be reached for comment Thursday evening, but her Finance Committee co-chairman said he has similar concerns.
“In general I’m concerned about the limitations it puts on Gov.-elect Dan Malloy’s administration,” Rep. Cam Staples of New Haven said Thursday.
But unlike Candelora, Staples wasn’t willing to say he will vote against the item Friday morning.
Staples said he’s keeping an open mind about the rail cars until he hears from Department of Transportation officials. He said it’s possible the state may lose out on the contracted price if it doesn’t purchase them before the end of the year, which may be a good argument to pull the trigger on the purchase.
But he’s also concerned with the amount of debt service the state is taking on and how it may tie the hands of the incoming Malloy administration.
“It may not be necessary and it may put stress on our debt service,” Staples, the outgoing co-chairman of the legislature’s Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, said Thursday.
Asked if he thought Rell was trying to complete the purchase of the rail cars so she can include it as part of her legacy as she exits state service, Staples said he’s withholding judgment until tomorrow’s meeting.
In a press release sent out earlier this week, Rell said the $81 million purchase “will complete the rail car enhancement program that I initiated shortly after taking office.”
Support authentic, locally owned and operated public service journalism!
Some 342 rail cars have already been ordered, and the purchase of 38 will bring the total to the originally planned 380. Of the remaining 38, 24 will be deployed on Shore Line East – the commuter service between New Haven and New London. The other 14 will go into service on the New Haven Line, which runs between New Haven and Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
The $81 million purchase of the rail cars is the single largest item on Friday’s agenda.
More State Budget news

Lamont Signs The Budget
Alongside Democratic legislative leaders, Gov. Ned Lamont signed the $24 billion budget adjustment Monday that includes $600 million in tax relief. That’s more than they anticipated they would be able to offer Connecticut residents this Election year because revenue came in higher than expected, but it still creates about an $800 million deficit in 2024. …
Keep reading
ANALYSIS | It’s A Wrap: The Winners and Losers of the 2022 Session
It was a short legislative session, but the House and the Senate were able to move a lot of business this year, including the passage of a $24-billion budget with around $600 million in tax cuts.
Keep reading
Connecticut Acts To Help Its Lead-Poisoned Children
After decades of inertia, Connecticut is finally moving to help its thousands of lead-poisoned children and prevent thousands of other young children from being damaged by the widespread neurotoxin.
Keep reading
Bill Bolstering Contracting Oversight Board In Jeopardy After Lamont Administration Raises Concerns
It passed unanimously in the Senate, but a bill that would give the State Contracting Standards Board greater oversight over state contracting appeared stalled in the House Wednesday on the last day of session. “The governor and I have not talked about the bill,” House Speaker Matt Ritter said. “The commissioners have sent us a…
Keep reading
Senate Approves Tax Cuts, Sends $24B Budget to the Governor
The state Senate gave final approval late Tuesday to a $24 billion election year budget plan that includes around $600 million in tax relief while enabling the state to make an $3.5 billion payment on its unfunded pension debt. Senators voted 24-12 at around 10:30 p.m. to send the midterm budget adjustment to the desk…
Keep reading
House Green-Lights $24B Budget
On a party-line vote early Tuesday, the House passed a $24 billion budget adjustment package containing more than $600 million in tax cuts which Democrats heralded as “historic” and Republicans derided as temporary. Lawmakers voted 95 – 52 at around 12:20 a.m. to send the 673-page budget document to the Senate for consideration before the…
Keep reading
Budget Materials
The General Assembly is preparing to debate adjustments to the $24 billion state budget. Below are a few of the documents we’ve been provided as back-up materials. The budget, HB 5506. Town runs. Car tax impact on municipalities. Finance Committee Power Point.
Keep reading
Lawmakers May Vote for First Pay Increase in 20 Years
With legislative retirements mounting, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were considering Monday raising the salaries of General Assembly members for the first time in more than two decades and indexing their pay in the future. During a morning press briefing, House Speaker Matt Ritter told reporters that funding for pay raises had been…
Keep reading
Amid Surging Revenue, House Prepares to Vote on Budget Adjustments
Connecticut’s House of Representatives was expected to vote Monday on a $24 billion budget adjustment package, buoyed by revised revenue predictions that exceeded expectations by more than $350 million. The revised consensus figures released Monday confirm the surge in revenues that enabled Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative Democrats to reach an agreement last week on…
Keep reading
Dems Detail Budget Deal With $500 Mil in Tax Cuts, Extension of Gas Tax Holiday
Legislative Democrats and Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration announced Wednesday the details of a $24.2 billion budget adjustment package, which they say provides around $500 million in tax relief including extending a gas tax holiday until December. Lamont and legislative leaders outlined the agreement during an afternoon press conference in the state Capitol building. Both chambers…
Keep reading
Health Care Workers Call for New Hires
After a record number of health care workers are expected to retire this year, health care staff called on Gov. Ned Lamont to commit to filling 1,000 vacant positions by August 1 of this year. A record 1,137 state workers who notified the state that they will retire this year comes at a moment of…
Keep reading
Senate Joins House And Votes To Give Raises, Bonuses To State Employees
The Senate gave final approval by a 22-13 vote on a plan to give unionized state workers a set of raises and bonuses. The plan, negotiated by Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration and a coalition of public sector labor unions, provides three years of 2.5% raises and step increases as well as a total of $3,500…
Keep reading
House Advances Labor Deal In Historic Vote
Lawmakers in Connecticut’s House of Representatives signed off on a plan to give state workers a set of raises and bonuses Thursday in a mostly partisan vote on a negotiated labor agreement. The House voted 96 to 52 in support of the deal with 1 Republican, Rep. Tom Delnicki of South Windsor, joining all Democrats…
Keep reading
Republicans Propose Last-Minute Tax Package
Legislative Republicans pitched a $1.2 billion tax relief plan Thursday which reduces state income, sales and gas taxes and proposes to join other states in suing the federal government to challenge restrictions on spending pandemic relief funds. House and Senate Republicans announced the plan during a state Capitol press conference Thursday morning. It cuts the…
Keep reading
The Budget Battle Begins To Take Shape
Tax collections have improved and pushed Connecticut’s budget surplus to $4 billion, but the state budget still relies heavily on federal funding and without it the state would end up running a “sizeable operating deficit.” The Office of Policy and Management told state Comptroller Natalie Braswell Wednesday that if not for the use of the…
Keep reading
Ritter: Time Is Running Short For Budget Agreement
The legislature will have a difficult time approving a state budget before the end of its session in two weeks if lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont do not reach an agreement in the next 48 hours, House Speaker Matt Ritter told reporters Wednesday. During a morning press briefing, Ritter said the legislative schedule was looking…
Keep reading