State Announces Final Budget Surplus

Of $30 Million

HARTFORD (AP) — The state ended the 2001 fiscal year with a net budget surplus of $30.6 million, state Comptroller Nancy Wyman said Tuesday.

The figure is the remainder of a $606.8 million surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30, Wyman said. The General Assembly appropriated $576.2 million of the gross surplus for various programs; the remaining money will be deposited in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Wyman announced the surplus figures as she continued to predict a minimal surplus of just $150,000 for the fiscal year that began July 1. Wyman said the shrinking surplus is due to a “growth recession” in the state’s economy that produced a sharp drop in tax revenue in the past few months and is expected to continue into 2002.

“Tax revenues are down dramatically, mainly due to very weak growth in jobs and sluggish consumer spending,” she said.

Marc Ryan, budget director for Gov John G. Rowland, warned last month that budget cuts may be necessary in coming months if revenue forecasts don’t improve.

The letter marked the third straight year that Ryan has issued such a warning just months after lawmakers adopted a budget, which this year stands at about $13 billion.

Last September, Rowland ordered state agencies to cut about $40 million from their budgets. In 1999, the governor made agencies trim spending by $20 million.

Even if revenue projections improve, budget cuts may still be needed to comply with the state’s spending cap, Ryan said. The budget approved by the governor and Legislature is about $79 million below the mandatory cap.