Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released a new budget reduction strategy Friday that, if passed, would keep both the First and Second Cos. Governor's Horse Guard intact and fully funded.
"We're confident the concession package will be approved and that the horse guard should be able to continue for the foreseeable future," Gian-Carl Casa, undersecretary for legislative affairs in the state Office of Policy Management, wrote in an e-mail to Patch on Saturday.
The decision on whether to keep, consolidate or cut the horse guards has gone back and forth in the past few months, leaving both units uncertain about their fates.
Malloy released the latest budget reduction strategy, also known as Plan C, on Friday. In it, neither the horse guards are listed among the cuts. If lawmakers pass the plan, that means both units will stay with fully restored budgets for the next two years under the proposed biennium budget. Each unit would receive $78,632 next year in funding, if fully restored.
Until then, the horse guards are waiting for the official word.
The new budget reduction strategy depends on a concession agreement with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalitions, which has not yet been ratified.
"The only thing that needs to happen now is for the SEBAC agreement to be ratified in a timely fashion," Malloy said in a press release Friday. "If it isn’t, we’re back to Plan B – something I don’t think anyone wants."
The elimination of the Avon and Newtown horse guard units is listed as one of the proposed possibilities in Plan B.
The remaining savings in the proposal are $1 billion for budgeted labor management lapse, $700 million for SEBAC agreements and $259,410,171 for impact on budgeted surplus. That amount added to the $40,589,829 in the Plan C reduction strategy, that equals the $2 billion needed to balance the budget.
