STATE OF CONNECTICUT
NANCY WYMAN COMPTROLLER	OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER 55 ELM STREET HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 06106-1775	MARK OJAKIAN DEPUTY COMPTROLLER

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman today projected that the state will end the 2001 fiscal year with a budget surplus of $646.9 million - a drop of nearly $17 million from last month's estimate.

"The recent weak performance of the economy is taking its toll on tax revenues," Wyman said. "The income tax, sales tax, and corporation tax have all been affected and that will likely result in a smaller surplus than we expected last month."

Wyman said that stagnant growth in employment, leading to a drop in payroll withholding taxes, was a major factor in the decline. That situation could improve with seasonal job growth that typically occurs during the summer, she said.

Wyman's reduced surplus estimate follows similar declines in projections made by the Governor's budget office and the independent Office of Fiscal Analysis.

Wyman said the shrinking surplus may also have an impact on implementation of the two-year state budget approved last week by the General Assembly, which calls for spending about $608 million of surplus funds. About $155 million of that appropriation is for ongoing programs.

"Unfortunately, this budget creates programs for which there will be no funding if the surplus keeps dropping or dries up completely," Wyman said. "That is not only shortsighted, but is simply not the way state government should be spending the taxpayers' money."

Wyman has advocated that the surplus be used to increase the state's emergency Rainy Day Fund and to pay off the state's extraordinarily high debt, or to fund one-time expenses only.

The State Comptroller appreciates input on this and other issues from residents of the state. Please feel free to contact her office by phone - (860) 702-3300; mail - OSC, 55 Elm Street, Hartford, CT 06106; or, via E-mail - osc.opinions@po.state.ct.us

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