The larger question is whether there is a state budget surplus or not. Since the Connecticut Legislature has failed to adopt GAAP, the fiscal standing of Connecticut is somewhat murky. Recently, in The Courant Rell was announcing a $500 miullion shortfalll projected for 2007/2008.

The state could have a budget deficit of at least $500 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year, which Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday could require some cuts in state services.

If spending continues at its current rate, state budget director Robert Genuario projects a deficit of $500 million to $700 million for the next fiscal year to provide the current level of services.

“We’re going to have to talk about what we want as priorities, and what we will be able to afford, and it won’t be all at one time,” Rell told reporters Friday after a meeting of the State Bond Commission. “It may mean the possibility of some cuts in current services.”

Last month, state officials said Connecticut had a $486.5 million budget surplus, but they projected shortfalls starting in the 2008 fiscal year. By law, the surplus for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, must be spent on retiring debt or filling the state’s so-called Rainy Day Fund.

Seemingly oblivious we have legislators in the news announcing plans for spending surpluses. From the Norwalk Advocate

A group of Republicans, including state Sens. John McKinney of Fairfield and Judith Freedman of Westport, said they plan to introduce a bill that would invest one-fifth of the state’s projected $500 million surplus to acquire and preserve open space.

So much for the old chesnut that Republicans are the fiscally responsible party. Norwalk State Senator Bob Duff does better, from the same article:

State Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he supports land preservation, but there already is a mechanism to do so. A bill passed during last year’s session charges a $30 fee to register land records. The revenue is divided between open space and land preservation, historic preservation and affordable housing, with a small fee going to the town clerk’s office filing the record. Duff said the surcharge raises about $9 million a year, and the state bonds an additional amount each year for open space. He said he supports land preservation efforts when they have measurable outcomes. For the next two fiscal years, the projected budget deficit is $1 billion, he said. Duff said the current surplus would be better spent funding pensions and health care.

That is until he missed the part of the law that requires this year’s surplus to be spent either retiring debt or deposited into the rainy day fund. What all the legislators should do is push for GAAP, and move Connecticut towards a path of transparent accounting and open government. The software technology is there, it’s the political will that isn’t.