CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — A group that advocates for our youngest and most vulnerable said Connecticut is not spending enough on kids. In its annual budget and tax forum, Connecticut Voices for Children said that the state has too much surplus money to have children’s programs so underfunded.
“Even though surplus dollars are overflowing in the billions, the revenue controls are such that programs and services, both current and new, that provide economic relief and support to our state’s children and families, really can’t be funded with those surplus dollars,” CT Voices for Children Executive Director Emily Byrne said.
CT Voices said those revenue controls, or fiscal guardrails, are excessively restrictive. Over the past seven fiscal years, the state budgeted to have a surplus totaling less than $6 billion, but the state ended up with a surplus of $12.5 billion.
Voices for Children said that meant the fiscal controls were more than twice as restrictive as designed.
“Meaning this revenue was not used to fund current public services or make public investments, that support families and children and grow the state’s economy,” Dr. Patrick O’Brien, the group’s Research and Policy Director, explained.
He said the volatility cap that decides how much money is saved in the state’s reserve fund was poorly designed.
CT Voices suggested that simple changes to the cap would have freed up billions in spending over the past 7 years. They said a fraction of that would have made a difference to the state’s kids.
“With a billion dollars, it would be possible to provide additional tax relief to low and middle-income families, to provide increased support for housing, to provide increased support for childcare, and even then, there could still be much, much more than could still be possible with that money,” O’Brien said.
Of the surplus money that’ has been spent, Voices for Children said the state is paying more than is required to pay off long-term employee pension liability.
“That’s like making additional payments on your mortgage while neglecting to feed your children, or to provide adequate childcare and education,” O’Brien said.
Instead of paying off that debt from the past, the group recommends investing in children would create economic growth in the future.