Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 10, 2025 11 dream of helping people was quickly quashed. When he told Democratic party leaders that he had made prom- ises to his constituents, they told him to forget them. The state was in another fiscal crisis. In fiscal years 2014-15 and 2015- 16, the state faced consecutive budget deficits and its rainy day fund had dwindled to $235.6 million, or 1.3% of annual operating costs. "When I got elected to the legisla- ture, we were in the midst of a perma- nent fiscal crisis, and the last 10 years have been a story of us getting out of that crisis," Scanlon said. In 2017, faced with yet another budget deficit, the legislature approved a more strict spending cap, an annual bonding limit and other measures now known as the state's "fiscal guardrails." The guardrails have helped change Connecticut's fiscal trajectory. The state has recorded six straight years of surpluses, paid down billions of dollars in long-term pension liabilities and recapitalized its rainy day fund with over $4 billion. "The guardrails were created in 2017 to end that fiscal crisis," Scanlon said. "In 2025, that crisis has ended." Today, Scanlon said he still supports the guardrails, but believes there is an opportunity to make them more "adaptive." "If the last 10 years were about ending the crisis," Scanlon said, "the next 10 years have to be about growing Connecticut for the first time in a long time and addressing the new crisis, which in my mind is the affordability crisis — health care, child care, housing and energy, which are all costing too much for people in the state." He supports saving and paying down debt, but also freeing up "a little bit of money to address the things that are now hurting people more than our fiscal situation. And that's the balance that I think we need to find going forward." Scanlon says the state's improved fiscal condition has freed up more money for the budget. For the coming fiscal year, the state has $1 billion more to spend under the cap. It also has another $750 million available that doesn't "have to be used for debt service," he said. "I tell people all the time, the most progressive thing we can do is be fiscally responsible," he said. "And people's heads explode when I say that." Universal pre-K The heads of critics of Gov. Ned Lamont's $55.2 billion biennial budget proposal may not have exploded, but they have raised loud concerns. That includes complaints over Lamont's plan to loosen one of the state's fiscal guardrails — the volatility cap — in order to spend $300 million for a universal pre-K program. The volatility cap prohibits the legislature from spending an average of $1.4 billion in annual income and business tax receipts because those tax revenues fluctuate greatly from year to year. The governor's plan frees up $300 million from that $1.4 billion cap. Industry groups, including the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and National Feder- ation of Independent Business, have opposed attempts to loosen the guardrails. Scanlon said he supports Lamont's plan because the volatility cap was calculated based on just one year. "That was a mistake because that turned out to be a very unrep- resentative year of volatility," he said. "When you do a five- or 10-year average, there's about $300 million more that is over-collected by the volatility cap." More importantly, Scanlon said universal pre-K will help address the high costs of child care in the state. Scanlon, who is paid more than $189,000 a year, said he and his wife Meghan, who is a nonprofit exec- utive, pay over $3,000 a month to send their two children to day care, "and one of them doesn't even go full-time. … Being raised by a single mom, I have no idea how people in my mom's shoes could afford to do this right now." The governor's plan, he added, will benefit the workforce and could attract couples and families to live and work in the state. Fighting for those without a voice is a lesson Sean Scanlon learned from his mom and RFK, seen in this ad for Abe Ribicoff that he keeps on his office wall. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER "Liberty Bank understood what we were doing, and they have faith in us and have been supportive all along." Bruce Redman Becker Proprietor, Hotel Marcel To reach their business goals, Hotel Marcel came to Liberty Bank for personalized ser vices, experienced local lending teams, and shared interest in the success of our communities. Contact our Commercial Lending Professionals at liberty-bank.com/commercial Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender. All loans and lines are subject to credit and underwriting approval.

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