State Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo says the state's mushrooming budget deficit has jumped by another $50 million, bringing the official deficit figure today to $415 million.
However, because of a technical accounting glitch, Lembo's office has not factored in to that figure Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's recently ordered budget cuts, the Connecticut Mirror reports.
When those cuts are calculated, the website reports, it brings the actual deficit closer to $290 million.
Malloy's office, meanwhile, is questioning Lembo's deficit figures. Malloy officials say they don't believe the deficit is as high as Lembo is estimating, but offered no reason for why they don't agree with the comptrollers calculations, the Mirror reports.
Lembo said the state's budget woes are, in part, the result of higher than expect spending on Medicaid. Malloy has said he will file a deficit mitigation plan with the legislature before year's end. He has blamed the state's fiscal problems on the enduring and lingering impacts in Connecticut of the nation's economic downturn.
In an effort to lower the deficit, Malloy last week announced $170 million in budget cuts, the maximum allowed by a governor without needing legislative approval.
