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 said the state will end the 2007 fiscal year with $249.2 million remaining from a gross budget surplus of more than $1 billion.

The $249.2 million is what remains after the General Assembly passed a budget that appropriated $790.3 million of an estimated gross surplus of $1.04 billion. The $790.3 million has been designated as revenue to be spent next over the next two fiscal years.

Wyman said that shifting of revenue from one fiscal year to the next is a questionable financial practice that she sought to stop through legislation she proposed to change the state's method of budget accounting. The bill to adopt Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) was approved overwhelmingly by the General Assembly, but was vetoed by the Governor.

"GAAP would not allow this kind of revenue shifting, which will make next year's bottom line look better than it really is," Wyman said. "GAAP would give our taxpayers a true financial picture by showing the state's actual expenses and revenues in the same year they occurred."

The leftover $249.2 million will be deposited into the state's emergency Rainy Day Fund, bringing the fund to approximately $1.3 billion, or about eight percent of the total state budget.

Wyman has consistently urged the legislature to deposit 15 percent of the total budget in the fund as protection against potential tax increases when the economy weakens.

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

Learn more about the Connecticut Comptroller's Office by calling up our Internet Home Page, at the link below.

For Immediate Release
August 1, 2007

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