Small progress made in state budget talks

State Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, left, and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby met their Democratic counterparts on Thursday and made incremental progress toward a possible budget compromise. less State Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, left, and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby met their Democratic counterparts on Thursday and made incremental progress toward a possible ... more Photo: Jessica Hill / Associated Press Photo: Jessica Hill / Associated Press Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Small progress made in state budget talks 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

In the State Capitol in Hartford on Thursday, Republican and Democratic leaders of the General Assembly agreed on a couple of issues that could lead to a compromise deal on a new two-year $40-billion state budget.

But the leaders also agreed they have a long way to go.

Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said the talks may have to continue for weeks to reach a conclusion.

“It’s not an easy process,” Aresimowicz told reporters. “I think we agreed to a couple things today and we’re going to continue to meet in the coming weeks.”

Aresimowicz said the areas of agreement included some long-range structural changes; and revisions to the late-June Democratic plan, which included an increase in the 6.35-percent sales tax to 6.99 percent.

“This is the first time I think we’ve had true, substantive conversations on the budget, which I think is a plus,” said Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven. “Talking is always better than not talking.”

“I think we all are as frustrated as everyone else in the state is,” added House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby. “This is not the place we want to be and we have very different ideas of a vision for the state of Connecticut, but we wouldn’t all be in the room if we didn’t want to find some consensus to move forward.”

The recent deal with state unions to accept $1.5 billion in concession has solved some of the fiscal problems, but reduced the projected $5-billion to $3.5 billion. The two-year budget was scheduled to start on July 1, but the Legislature has missed multiple deadlines and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been running a bare-bones budget through executive order for nearly six weeks.

“No one wants to run the state by executive order,” added House Majority Leader Matt Ritter.

KDixon@ctpost.com; Twitter: @KenDixonCT