Newtown’s legislative delegation — Representatives Mitch Bolinsky, Dan Carter, and J.P. Sredzinski and Senator Tony Hwang — stood with GOP colleagues as Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) made his final, futile remarks before he and 35 colleagues cast their votes narrowly passing the biennial spending plan by a 19 to 17 margin as their midnight deadline loomed June 3.

Following the vote, each local lawmakers expressed dismay over how state Democrats had, as The Connecticut Mirror described it, muscled passage of a much-maligned budget through both chambers in little more than 12 hours on the last day of the statehouse session.

“We’ve got to change. We’ve got to set a new course for the state,” Sen Fasano said. “When are we going to change? When are we going to change?”

Earlier in the day, and following a marathon deliberation session that began Tuesday and ended near sunrise Wednesday morning, Reps Bolinsky, Carter and Sredzinski all cast No votes against the $40.3 billion, two-year package that largely restores deep cuts to social services and expands municipal aid while bolstering tax revenues by almost $2 billion.

Sen Hwang (R-28) said there were so many troubling components of this $40 billion budget that he feels it will “directly impact our state residents’ ability to live in Connecticut.”

“For starters, it is funded by revenue from the second highest tax increase in our state’s history — just four years after this governor enacted the single highest tax increase,” Sen Hwang said. “We know now, given the billion-dollar deficit we are facing yet again over the next two years, that the tax increases in 2011 did nothing to improve our financial situation and have not put us on a path to long-term stability and prosperity. In fact, and this just demonstrates how outrageous and ill-conceived this budget is, the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis projects it will lead to a $1.6 billion deficit for the next biennial budget.”

The freshman senator, who resides in Fairfield and represents Newtown, said by relying on revenue from keno gambling and increased and unique taxes on hospitals, businesses, and residents to the tune of about $2 billion, the budget fails to make difficult decisions that he said demands true leadership.

“Furthermore, this budget represents a blatant disrespect for the legislative process and a total disregard for the people of Connecticut, given the fact that Democrats and the governor negotiated it in secret with zero input from Republicans despite repeated requests for bipartisan collaboration on what is arguably the single most important piece of legislation we will see this year.

“Also, several elements of the taxation piece — totaling $802 million — were never even properly vetted in public hearings and were only made available to legislators on the day of the vote,” Sen Hwang said. “It disturbingly almost seems to border on taxation without representation.”

While the budget passed both the House and Senate largely along party lines, Sen Hwang stressed that his No vote had nothing to do with partisanship.

“It’s about representing my constituents and all the people of Connecticut, who overwhelmingly said no to more tax increases,” Sen Hwang said. “It’s also about a better vision for the future of our great state and for the role of state government — one that fosters an environment where businesses can truly thrive and grow and residents are not saddled with more and more taxes year-after-year.”

Middle Class Hit

Rep Carter reacted immediately, dispatching a statement shortly after the house vote Wednesday. He also conveyed great concern that some of the proposed tax increases would hit middle-class families the hardest.

“This includes a lifting of sales tax exemptions on goods and services such as clothing and footwear, maintaining the state’s 6.35 percent sales tax despite earlier reports that the rate would be reduced as an offset of the loss from the clothing exemption,” Rep Carter said. “It also reduces tax credits like the current $300 property tax credit maximum, which will decrease to $200, and impact every homeowner in the state and come on the heels of a previous reduction from $500 in 2011.”

Rep Carter called the spending plan “a disappointing culmination of such a dynamic legislative session.”

“The budget passed today is an appalling choice over the balanced ‘Blueprint for Prosperity’ that Republican leaders proposed in April,” Rep Carter said. “The Democrats’ budget is balanced on the backs of hospitals and our most vulnerable populations. It breaks our record book for bad budgets, further drives jobs out of the state, and will surely do for Connecticut what similar policies did for Detroit.”

Rep Carter said cuts to Medicaid and a $400 million hospital provider tax increase coupled with the new mandates will devastate Danbury Hospital.

Ultimately, like his colleagues and the Minority Leader, Rep Carter railed against the closed-door process Democrats imposed.

“Despite being left out of the budget process this session,” he added, “I hope, going forward, that the Majority Party will work in a truly bipartisan manner and consider new ideas to support the vital social service programs, hospitals, transportation infrastructure, businesses, and Connecticut residents that will suffer greatly under the budget passed today.”

Bolinsky, Sredzinski Incensed

Citing concerns from Newtown residents and from face-to-face constituent meetings over recent months, both Reps Bolinsky and Sredzinski voiced their opposition against the two-year budget package.

Rep Sredzinski described the final budget as punitive and downright destructive. He said coupled with the removal of various tax exemptions, it will do serious harm to every resident and business.

“I ran because I believe in our state and I firmly believe that we can do better than this budget. It’s irresponsible to raise taxes and increase spending by over seven percent in the biennium. Connecticut residents can do better,” said Rep Sredzinski.

Rep Bolinsky said this year’s budget process started with an out-of-balance governor’s budget that devastated human services and took aim at the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

“Our caucus produced a new kind of budget that restored nearly every safety net cut, yet balanced — without new taxes,” Rep Bolinsky said. “Now, thanks in part to friction between the governor and his legislative budget writers, we have a potentially crippling budget that shatters the constitutional spending cap, piles on with taxes on every person and entity in Connecticut.

In a state that is already losing employers, jobs, and highly-skilled workers, Rep Bolinsky said the final budget is a tremendous gamble.

“Corporations like GE, Aetna, Travelers, and Praxair have verbalized what all state employers are thinking — enough,” Rep Bolinsky said. “How many of them will take their jobs and tax revenue somewhere that does not punish success?”

Promising to go into greater detail of where constituents will be affected through posts on his legislative web and Facebook pages, Rep Bolinsky bristled in his statement immediately following the Senate vote.

“The budget is not just about taxing corporations,” he said. “This scheme includes $1.5 billion in new taxes on all residents so we can fund an out-of-control state bureaucracy that increases spending by 7.5 percent over the term of this budget, with zero shared-sacrifice and built-in five percent raises every-year for our ballooning state employee ranks.”

In the private sector, Rep Bolinsky said, companies spend no more than they earn.

“In the public sector, that does not apply. In fact, in addition to the $1.5 billion in new taxes, this budget sweeps another $1.5 billion of unfunded pension liabilities under the rug,” Rep Bolinsky said. “I’m having a hard time not thinking that this shell game is concealing what could be a $3 billion effective tax increase on this and future citizens and businesses of Connecticut, or at least on those who are left.” 

This report was updated June 9 correcting a statement from Senator Tony Hwang originally and incorrectly attributed to Rep Dan Carter.