After recessing a tense meeting multiple times to meet behind closed doors, the state Senate Ways and Means Committee finally settled on revenue estimates that will let the chamber’s budget writers spend more money than initially expected.
In a 3-2 vote, the group endorsed projections that allow the Senate Finance Committee to craft a budget that spends roughly $38 million more than the House proposal and $20 million less than Gov. Chris Sununu’s version.
The differences are small when compared to the overall $12 billion budget, but they can be significant when making spending choices. For example, a plan to add 68 mental health treatment beds costs an estimated $7.5 million.
The decision was not made along party lines.
Republican committee chairman Andy Sanborn opposed the estimates, saying they were too high, while Democratic Sen. Lou D’Allesandro voted against the projections because he said they were too low.
Democratic Sen. Dan Feltes said the projections fell short, but he voted with the committee’s two other Republicans to “move the process along,” he said. “Every now and then you have got to throw the Republican Party a life raft,” Feltes said.
Now that the revenue numbers are set, the Senate Finance Committee can finalize its spending decisions.
The vote Monday exposed rifts among Republicans. Last week all three GOP committee members voted in favor of projections that put the Senate below the House and Sununu, a move that could have curbed spending on Republican leaders’ priorities. On Monday, two GOP members voted in favor of raising the estimates, while Sanborn refused to budge.
The clash resulted in several failed votes and subsequent hallway and closed-door meetings, as the public sat waiting for a final verdict.
Republican Sen. Gary Daniels of Milford said he got more information and thought the state was in a good financial position to further bump up revenue projections.
“Certainly I don’t want to inflate the figure, but if we actually feel comfortable with increases in revenue, that allows us to do a little more, too,” Daniels said.
“I think it’s too much money; it spends too much,” said Sanborn, a Bedford Republican. “But I have been very consistent throughout this whole process.”
The Ways and Means Committee meeting ran so far into the afternoon that the Finance Committee canceled a meeting that had been scheduled for 11 a.m.
“We meet on time, we openly discuss the subject matter, and when the public comes, we address their concerns,” D’Allesandro said. “Things should happen on time. I am not pleased with that at all.”
(Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or amorris@cmonitor.com.)