There’s been a lot of buzz in Connecticut about the impending budget deficits. I’ve served on a few committees for the state and seen many presentations over the last few years and am really not that surprised. I believe data and demographic trends suggest this was inevitable…but probably accelerated by the various unfortunate situations created in the financial industry.
Obviously everything seems simple to the outsider, so I’d recommend the following 3 point plan to adjust the glide path of Connecticut:
1. Reduce CT Government Spending & Liabilities. More often than not, decisions to cut costs are focused on service reductions. Connecticut needs to understand the current economic environment is a new trend, not an anomaly. We need to reduce government and increase services. Tax revenue will continue to decrease as the demographics change. Connecticut needs to reduce administrative overhead in the legislative and executive branches, reduce perks, and certainly eliminate the defined benefit programs that will only continue to escalate unfunded liabilities on the balance sheet. Clearly it’s about permanent staff reductions and strategic outsourcing.
2. Define the State. I guess ‘The Land of Steady Habits’ is the de facto state slogan and does shed light on the ‘why’ of our current situation. The State hasn’t taken much initiative to differentiate itself among other states that invest heavily in attracting and retaining specific businesses and jobs. It does not encourage business investment and is in fact well known as ‘unfriendly’ to business. Given our size, it might be prudent to invest in that ‘one thing’ to make Connecticut stand out…maybe it’s hedge funds or fuel cells or nanotechnology, but it probably should be some effort that can be adequately funded and supported by our available resources.
3. Get on the BandWagon. 2009 brings great opportunity as the new administration promises a billion dollars for innovation programs and hundreds of billions for infrastructure build-out. Now is the time to correct our transportation deficiencies. Let’s spend the effort to plan a rail system that delivers a one hour commute from Hartford to both New York & Boston. Let’s leverage that to also deliver local service to ease traffic congestion and link the State’s various tourist attractions. Let’s plan a strategic fix to the route 95 nightmare. Let’s make sure to invest in building the case for using federal money to evolve Connecticut infrastructure now….and then, when the money comes, let’s be accountable for the projects, getting them done without the cost overruns and the bad press that surrounded recent transportation initiatives.
Rick Huebner is a proud resident of the State of Connecticut as well as President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.
Go to VISTECH.com for information on our website design, network support, and unified communications offerings as well as our time reporting/issue tracking and retirement income software applications.
