[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

Well there goes CT ha. Be the worst state in the Union.

It's had the signs for a while. CT now has the very prestigious honor of getting to claim "We are better than alabama", but that's about where superiority ends. and who knows how long even THAT will be true.

[BPt111]

Cant wait till to see Jay comments on previous posts I thinking he would say CT is on the rise

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

500 million for a mile of road is not pennies and there are many projects like if from what i've read around these boards...

I see in the post above yours that 1,00 state jobs will be cut. I applaud that. in a state this small 1k jobs is probably a fair amount, @ 50k avg thats 50 million there. Good job.

What I-84 project is costing $500 million for 1 mile of road? If you are talking about the one in Waterbury, it is $300 million and widens nearly 3 miles of highway. Typical of many, you do not think this is not "worth it" because it is a road that you do not use. I am sure the 125,000 drivers who use this road every day would disagree with you. Jay

[RunD1987]

I use the road I had no issue. It was 3 lanes going into the Mixmaster. I was cool with it.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

One would think these cuts would be more selective. Welfare, huge construction projects, pension problem etc. Big ticket items that don't give the state a good ROI. Not moves that will increase already high property taxes, accelerate the population decline and lower healthcare and science standards.

UCONN may very well have plenty of bloat, I hope they do and I hope its gets chopped off. But who makes that decision? "across the board" won't work. Big difference between cutting the budget to the department studying 12th century literature and grants that pay for STEM PhDs, med school students, nursing students etc.

Do you even understand how the budget process works? It is easy to say cut this or cut that but what are the implications? Huge construction projects put a lot of people to work and provide for desperately needed rebuilding of our crumbling infrastructure. Improved things like transportation makes our state more attractive, not less. Welfare provides people who can't help themselves with being able to live. It is not the "easy life" that many people think it is. The pension problem is not related to the current system. It relates to commitments that were made decades ago and like it or not, they must be addressed. Cutting that will only add to our problems.

As for higher local taxes, that comment was made in the media not because that is what will happen but because the state is proposing to lower aid being given to communities. How the towns address that reduction is a local decision. They could chose to increase taxes locally or they could cut their budgets too. That is their choice. Jay

[RunD1987]

Well we could change CT property tax to county tax. No county could tax over 50%. Then based off a city/town population they receive the most money collected from the taxes :-D!

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Do you even understand how the budget process works? It is easy to say cut this or cut that but what are the implications? Huge construction projects put a lot of people to work and provide for desperately needed rebuilding of our crumbling infrastructure. Improved things like transportation makes our state more attractive, not less. Welfare provides people who can't help themselves with being able to live. It is not the "easy life" that many people think it is. The pension problem is not related to the current system. It relates to commitments that were made decades ago and like it or not, they must be addressed. Cutting that will only add to our problems.

As for higher local taxes, that comment was made in the media not because that is what will happen but because the state is proposing to lower aid being given to communities. How the towns address that reduction is a local decision. They could chose to increase taxes locally or they could cut their budgets too. That is their choice. Jay

Jay, you definitely know more about the CT tax process than me, I won't pretend otherwise. But I have driven the waterbury stretch of 84 many times, my wife does for work at least 2-3 days a week and yes, it sucks, but 15 minutes of traffic for 300 million when the state didn't have the money in the first place was a poor leadership decision IMO. We need to learn from these mistakes and not repeat them (cancel big future projects).

Projects like that are for booming states, not struggling ones. 3 miles of road is hardly going to attract new residents, a state without high taxes, deficit problems and a declining healthcare system WILL.

[RunD1987]

Don't forget some area's have declining school systems due to being underfunded and high cost of higher education for in state residents.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

Well we could change CT property tax to county tax. No county could tax over 50%. Then based off a city/town population they receive the most money collected from the taxes :-D!

Adding another layer of government will NOT help the situation. If anything it would make it worse. Also I doubt many would want to deal with large regional governments. They work less efficiently than local ones since there is less accountability. Jay

[JayCT]

Okay guys we have tow threads going to discuss the state budget. I think we need to limit that. Lets keep the discussion of the budget to that thread and keep this one discussing other economic topics. Thanks, JayCT, Moderator