RepublicanAmericanFINAL $1TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

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BY PAUL HUGHESREPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

HARTFORD — The firstbudget forecast since theApril 15 filing deadline proj-ects the state income tax willraise $915.3 million morethan budgeted for this fiscalyear.

The state Office of Policyand Management increasedits previous estimates of col-lections from withholdingtaxes and a new pass-through entity tax to $500million, but lowered antici-pated estimated and final

payments by $200 million.The tax on personal earn-

ings is now projected to raise$10,622,900,000 this fiscalyear. This represents a net in-crease of $300 million fromOPM’s March forecast.

OPM analysts are now pre-dicting an operating surplusof $566.2 million for the 2019fiscal year that runs throughJune 30, up $70.2 millionfrom last month’s projection.

Despite this good budgetnews Monday, the next two-year budget still must close

Good news on tax revenueState budget forecast is $915.3 million more than expected

M

Some early clouds;showers developingat night. Page 8A

BRUINS AND MAPLE LEAFS FACEOFF IN GAME 7 TONIGHT, THE2ND STRAIGHT YEAR THEY HAVETAKEN SERIES TO LIMIT, PAGE 8B

Assistance in bombings probeAs the death toll in the bombings in SriLanka rises to 300, Interpol and the FBI saythey will provide help in the investigationinto the Easter Sunday attacks. PAGE 5A

Medicare, Social Security woesA report released Monday shows thefinancial condition of government’sbedrock retirement programs for working-class Americans remains shaky. PAGE 1C

Helping send students to promThe Big, Bold and Beautiful organizationwill host a fashion show Sunday to raisemoney to send 12 students to the promwho otherwise could not afford it. PAGE 1D

City church to be demolishedThe congregation of the Nativity of theHoly Virgin Mary Orthodox Church hasdecided to dismantle the structurallycompromised building. PAGE 1B

High 69Low 49

Accent 1D

Births 2B

Business 1C

Classified 3-4C

Comics 4D

Crossword 3D

Dear Annie 2D

Editorials 6A

Horoscope 2D

Lottery 2A

Movie theaters 2D

Obituaries 3-4B

People 2D

Public notices 3-4C

Sports 5-8B

Stocks 2C

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Television 3D

NHL PLAYOFF DECIDER

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OPINION OF THE DAY: “Medicare for All wouldeliminate 2 million jobs in the private health-care industry.What happens to the affected people?” — Jeff Fryer, Southbury READ THE FULL LETTER ON PAGE 6A

TORREY MARTONE, FORMER STAR AT CHESHIRE HIGH,NOW COACHING AT CHESHIRE ACADEMY, PAGE 8B

HOMETOWN HERO

TODAY AT

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BY ANDREW LARSONREPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

WATERBURY — Metro-North Railroad has you cov-ered if you’re looking to cutout of work early.

The rail operator has pushedback the time of a mainline

connection to the Waterburybranch by 31 minutes, forcingsome commuters to leave workhalf an hour early.

The connecting train thatdid leave Grand Central Ter-

minal at 4:42 p.m. now de-parts at 4:11 p.m. beginninglast week

For Corey Ferrell, whocommutes to his job in NewYork City via the Waterbury

branch, losing 31 minutes“cripples” his workday, hesaid. His only other option isto wait three hours for thenext Waterbury branch con-nection.

His train departing Grand

COMMUTERS RILED BY CHANGE

Metro-North’s new connection time impacts daily passengers

STEVEN VALENTI REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Commuters get on the 2:03 p.m. train at the train station in Waterbury Monday. Metro-North Railroad has changed the departure time of a mainline train that connects to the Waterbury branch, forcing some commuters to leave work 30 minutes early to meet their connection.

See TRAIN, Page 4A

>> Highlights of schedule changes for New Haven line, Page 4A

PAUL HUGHES REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Gov. Ned Lamont comments Monday on state income taxcollections as Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Paul Mounds,Lamont's chief operating officer, listen. See FORECAST, Page 4A

BY HARRISON CONNERYREPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

WATERBURY — Stop &Shop employees and cus-tomers will likely be dealingwith the aftermath of the re-cent strike throughout theweek.

Though workers wereback in stores by 7 a.m.Monday to scrub away thedetritus left by the 11-daystrike, it will take severaldays for stores to replenishtheir produce, meat anddairy stocks.

“It won’t be until theweekend we can get stuffback to even,” said Matt My-ers, a Stop & Shop employeeof 13 years.

Myers said the first largedelivery won’t arrive at his

store on Reidville Drive un-til Thursday. Shelves onMonday afternoon at Rei-dville Drive and the Stop &Shop at 763 Straits Turnpikein Watertown were barren

of spinach, kale and lettuce.Meat and fish departmentsalso were depleted. Employ-ees at both stores were busy

Strike left store shelves bareStop & Shopmeat, produce,dairy stocks low

HARRISON CONNERY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Paul Sorcinelli, assistant produce associate at the Stop &Shop on Reidville Drive in Waterbury, stocks shelves withoranges Monday. Sorcinelli, who has been with the grocery retailer for 33 years, was among 31,000 Stop &Shop workers on strike since April 11.

See MARKET, Page 4A

BY PAUL HUGHESREPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

HARTFORD — Gov. NedLamont has named a chiefperformance officer to helphis administration create amore citizen-centered, data-driven state governmentthrough technology, intera-gency collaboration and ana-lytics.

Lamont publicly an-nounced the new appoint-ment and the initiative at thefirst cabinet meeting of hisadministration on Monday.

The new chief perform-ance officer is David Wilkin-son, the former commission-er of the state Office of Early

Lamont tapsperformanceofficer to aidwith analytics

See INITIATIVE, Page 4A

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN L M4A

Central Terminal at 4:11p.m. arrives in Bridgeport intime for him to transfer ontoa Waterbury-bound trainthat departs at 5:54 p.m.

“I keep asking: What dowe tell our employers?” hesaid. “It’s not three or fiveminutes — it’s a half-hour!”

Lisa Slinsky also transfersfrom the mainline to the Wa-terbury branch. She picks upthe train in South Norwalk at5:03 p.m. — 17 minutes earli-er than before the newschedule took effect.

“I have the flexibility inmy schedule to accommo-date this if I hustle,” shesaid. “But not everyone hasthe flexibility brought byseniority to leave work 20minutes earlier every singleday.”

Metro-North said thechange was made becausetrack repairs were causingdelays to the 4:42 p.m. trainout of Grand Central Termi-nal, making it late for its con-nection in Bridgeport.

“This was done to provide

riders with a more realistictravel time due to the vari-ous maintenance projects onthe mainline, which havecaused delays,” said MichaelDonnarumma, district su-perintendent for the NewHaven Line.

That doesn’t make sense toJim Gildea, chairman of theConnecticut Commuter RailCouncil, who also rides the

Waterbury branch. Ratherthan running the connectingtrain earlier, he suggestspostponing the departure ofthe Waterbury branch trainfrom 5:54 p.m. to just after 6p.m., allowing the 4:42 a.m.train from Grand CentralTerminal to once again serveas a Waterbury branch con-nection.

“Most riders would rather

get home six or eight minuteslater than to leave 30 minutesearlier,” Gildea said.

The Waterbury branchruns from Bridgeport to Wa-terbury, which is the north-ernmost point served byMetro-North.

Riders have long advocat-ed for more reliable andmore frequent service on theWaterbury branch, whichstill runs on diesel-fueledtrains. Work is underwaythat includes installing sig-nals, passing sidings andPositive Train Control, andriders are optimistic it willlead to more service on theWaterbury line.

But riders say anythingthat makes the branch’slimited service even moreinconvenient will under-mine those efforts. Gildeasaid some commuters aredriving to Bridgeport topick up a train on the main-line, avoiding the cumber-some commute on the Wa-terbury line.

The state Department ofTransportation said it’s re-viewing the time changeswith Metro-North.

TRAIN: Waterbury branch impacted by changeContinued from Page One

STEVEN VALENTI REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

The 2:03 p.m. train pulls into the train station in Waterbury Monday. Metro-North Railroad has changed the departuretime of a main line train that connects to the Waterbury branch.

HIGHLIGHTS OF SCHEDULECHANGES FOR NEW HAVEN LINE:

>> Morning peak — 48 mainline trains depart initial stationsbetween one and 10 minutes earlier and have scheduleslengthened by one to six minutes, depending on the triplength.

>> Afternoon peak — 42 mainline trains depart Grand Central Terminal at the same time as they did previously but have their schedules lengthened by one to six minutes,depending on the trip length.

>> Off-peak and nights — 83 westbound trains depart theirinitial station between 10 minutes earlier and four minuteslater and have their schedules lengthened by one to 11 minutes, depending on the trip length and the time ofday. Meanwhile, 53 eastbound trains depart Grand CentralTerminal at the same time as they did previously, but havetheir schedules lengthened by one to 11 minutes, depending on trip length and the time of day.

HARRISON CONNERY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Produce was low Monday afternoon at the Reidville DriveStop & Shop in Waterbury as employees worked to restorenormal operations after an 11-day strike.

projected deficits of $1.5 bil-lion for the upcoming 2020fiscal year and $2.2 billionfor the 2021 fiscal year.

The two-year gap couldnarrow when OPM and thelegislature’s Office of FiscalAnalysis release updatedrevenue estimates on April30 for 2019 and the threesucceeding fiscal years.

In the April budget out-look, OPM analysts reportedwithholding taxes deducteddirectly from employee pay-checks are now expected toraise an additional $100 mil-lion than previously estimat-ed last month.

The biggest projected in-crease was $400 million tothe new tax for pass-throughbusinesses that was estab-

lished in response to federaltax changes. This tax wasbudgeted to raise $600 mil-lion, but now it is expected toraise $1 billion.

Lawmakers and formerGov. Dannel P. Malloy estab-lished this tax because Presi-dent Donald Trump and Re-publicans in Congress cappedthe federal deduction for stateand local taxes at $10,000. Un-der this workaround, the in-come of S corporations, part-nerships and limited liabilitycompanies are taxed at thetop personal income tax rateof 6.99 percent, and the stateprovides an offsetting corpo-rate or personal income taxcredit for individuals andcompanies that are members.

Because this type of taxremains deductible at thefederal level, pass-through

businesses are able to claimthis new state tax as a de-ductible expense againsttheir federal taxes and passalong the benefit of the de-duction to their members.

This option is not availableto publicly-traded companies.

OPM reported a $200 mil-lion reduction in its projec-tion of estimated and finalpayments, but still this com-ponent is expected to raise$84.9 million more than bud-geted. Taxpayers who usethis filing option pay incometaxes in four yearly install-ments, with the first pay-ments due every April 15and the final payments dueevery Jan. 15.

Part of the decline in esti-mated and final paymentscould be attributable to theavailability of the new pass-

through entity tax.Before OPM released its

April budget report, Scott L.Jackson, the state tax com-missioner, advised Gov. NedLamont and Lt. Gov. SusanBysiewicz during a publicmeeting of Lamont’s cabinetthat income tax collectionswere robust.

“I am pleased to reportthat receipts have beenstrong,” Jackson stated.

After the meeting con-cluded, Lamont told re-porters that Connecticut wasnot seeing a decline likeneighboring New York state,where income tax collec-tions fell $3.4 billion fromlast year and overall revenuewas down $3.7 billion.

“We haven’t seen a greatfall-off like what you saw inNew York,” he said.

FORECAST: Deficits still loom for 2020-21Continued from Page One

scrubbing shelves and re-stocking produce. A managerat the Watertown locationsaid he had no idea when thenext delivery would arrive.

“We’re happy to be back onthe inside,” said Myers. “I’vealready seen some of the reg-ulars, we couldn’t have doneit without them. The responsefrom the community is reallywhat hooked us up.”

In Watertown, customerJeffery Santopietro said itwas his first time back sincethe strike began.

“I wouldn’t cross a picketline,” he said. “When bigcompanies try to take out thelittle guys, that’s when wehave problems.”

He said he wasn’t sur-prised by the lack of freshproduce and meat.

“It’s very difficult to have acompany as large as Stop &Shop be shut down for 10days and be able to stock theshelves overnight,” he said.“The store looked well staffed(today).”

Peggy Walsh found herselfat Stop & Shop to buy on-saleEaster items and dog food,which she said is cheaper atthe major retailer than at in-dependent stores. She saidshe refused to cross the pick-et line in solidarity with theworkers.

“You feel for them, they’refighting for their rights,” shesaid.

Thirty-one thousand Stop &Shop employees representedby five United Food & Com-mercial Workers LocalUnions in Connecticut,Rhode Island and Massachu-setts went on strike April 11following months of contractnegotiations with Ahold Del-haize, Sop & Shop’s corporateowner.

The strike crippled 294stores across the three statesthrough Easter, typically abusy period for grocery re-

tailers. Though many storeswere open during the strike,unionized delivery driversrefused to deliver fresh per-ishable items during thestrike.

Stores in Waterbury, Nau-gatuck, Watertown, Cheshire,Torrington, Litchfield, NorthCanaan, Southbury and Win-sted were affected.

Workers said they werefighting to prevent theirwages, health insurance andpension plans from beingstripped.

“We just wanted to keepeverything the same,” saidMyers. “I missed a week’sworth of pay but for all this itwas worth it.”

Details of the new laboragreement won’t be releaseduntil after the local unionshold a ratification vote laterthis week, but employees onMonday said the new agree-ment will look similar to theold one.

Paul Sorcinelli, assistantproduce clerk at the Rei-dville Drive store, has beenwith the company for 33years. As he stocked shelveswith bright yellow lemonsand oranges, he acknowl-edged he earns more thanthe average wage for his po-sition, but feels he’s earnedit in exchange for a lifetimeof service, especially in lightof Ahold Delhaize’s reported$1.8 billion in profits lastyear.

“They don’t say that thepeople that make these wageshave been here 30 years,” hesaid.

MARKET: Staff back,stocking in progressContinued from Page One

Will you go back toshopping at Stop & Shopnow that the strike is over?

FIND RESULTS OF YESTERDAY’SQUESTION ON PAGE 2A.

TODAY’S POLLVOTE ONLINE AT REP-AM.COM

Childhood under Gov. Dan-nel P. Malloy, and a formerdirector of the White HouseOffice of Social Innovationunder President Barack Oba-ma.

Wilkinson had alsocochaired the Digital Strate-gy Committee of the Lamonttransition team with JoanneCollins Smee, chief commer-cial officer of Xerox Corp.

Lamont and Wilkinsonsaid modernizing andstreamlining digital serviceswill be a big part of the ad-ministration’s initiative tomake state governmentmore user-friendly, cost-ef-fective, data-informed, andresults-driven.

“As a CEO, my teams useddata to help build better,more efficient and more re-sponsive experiences for ourcustomers, and state govern-ment should be no different,”said Lamont, who had found-ed and run a specialized ca-ble television business.

Wilkinson said analyticswill be used to develop policygoals and strategies forachieving objectives, includ-ing increasing collaborationamong state agencies.

“We will also unleash datato drive results,” he said.

Wilkinson briefly outlinedthe initiative during the near-

ly two-hour cabinet meetingthat was held in public. Hesaid its purpose is to lay outclear goals for state agencies,set high standards, and holdagencies and the governor’soffice accountable.

“You name it, we’re in thebusiness of outcomes andresults. What are we buyingwith our dollars? Too oftenwe focus on process andcompliance rather than out-comes and impacts,” Wilkin-son said.

He will report directly toPaul Mounds, Lamont’s chiefoperating officer, and Melis-sa McCaw, the secretary ofthe state Office of Policy andManagement.

“We can go further andfaster when we row togeth-er,” Mounds said. “We willwork closely with commis-sioners to develop measura-ble goals, forge cross-agencypartnerships, and clear apath to success.”

He said two of the chief fo-cuses will be on results andreducing redundancy.

In addition to Mounds andMcCaw, Wilkinson will alsocollaborate closely withJosh Geballe, the commis-sioner of the state Depart-ment of Administrative Ser-vices, to help manage trans-formation efforts that willmake state digital serviceseasier to use.

INITIATIVE: Goals,standards emphasizedContinued from Page One