Rell's Budget Office: $45.3 Million Deficit

State government's finances remain in modest deficit two-and-a-half months into the new fiscal year, according to Gov. M. Jodi Rell's budget office, which reported a $45.3 million shortfall on Monday.

The new deficit, which is improved slightly from the $63.4 million gap reported one month ago, is due largely to the same problems being tracked in August: a shortfall in anticipated federal funding and increasing demand for state social services.

In its monthly report to Comptroller Nancy Wyman, the Office of Policy and Management continues to project cost overruns in the Department of Social Services and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The Rell administration also continues to charge that a legislative panel created to find $50 million in new savings in the state budget has failed to meet its task.

The 21-member Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes technically has until Dec. 31 to complete the job assigned by statute. But administration officials have said that unless major new efficiencies are defined specifically and immediately, there won't be enough time to achieve a savings that large before the fiscal year expires on June 30.

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