Wyman Speaks Out On

State Surplus And Health Insurance

Connecticut State Comptroller Nancy Wyman is not satisfied with the disposition of the state budget surplus this year.

“It doesn’t make sense to me that, during the time that we have surpluses, we cut taxes and give back lots of money,” she said June 10 as guest speaker at a public meeting sponsored by the Newtown Democratic Town Committee at Edmond Town Hall.

“As a state, we have the highest per capita debt in the nation, and so we should be paying it down,” she said. “I really believe that we should take the majority of our surplus money and put it into either the rainy day fund or paying down the state’s debt.”

Ms Wyman is widely recognized for her staunch advocacy on behalf of municipalities in the capital.

“If we had done what we should have done when we had the major surpluses, when the economy went down we would have had more money in our budget,” she aid. “We would not have had to raise taxes, we would not have had to cut money to cities and towns; we would have been able to stay even — if we had put the money away, and paid down some of our debt.”

In addition to her role as the chief fiscal guardian for the state’s taxpayers, Ms Wyman emphasized her active pursuit of solutions to the spiraling cost of health care faced by 90,000 small businesses and more than 150,000 individuals statewide. “Health care is the fastest growing cost for everybody and what’s being offered to the seniors [through the recent changes to the drug benefit by the federal government] is not a good program. It’s very confusing. It’s a mess.

“My goal, and my only goal, is to get affordable and accessible health care to all the people in the State,” Ms Wyman said, outlining her efforts over several years to control and reduce health care premiums and administrative costs for Connecticut’s municipalities, small businesses (described as 50 employees or less), and not-for-profit organizations who are at a disadvantage when obtaining health insurance coverage.

“Our program will help the one-, two-, and three-person business in the state. If you know anybody that is a small business that is looking for [health insurance], we will be up and running as of August 1. You’ll be able to go online and check it out.”

Nancy Wyman is scheduled to return to Newtown on Labor Day to march in the town’s annual parade. Her June 10 appearance before the Newtown Democratic Town Committee and members of the public at Edmond Town Hall will be presented by the Democratic Town Committee on Charter Communications’ CommunityVision, Channel 21. The Newtown Democrats’ program airs at eight on Tuesday evenings, and repeats at noon on Fridays.