HARTFORD – Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) joined his Senate Democratic colleagues this evening in voting to approve the 2026-27 biennial no-tax increase state budget that invests in Connecticut’s children, families and towns.
The budget passed 25-11 on a purely partisan vote and now heads to Governor Ned Lamont for his signature into law.
“Locally, this budget delivers more education funding for the Norwalk Public Schools and a record amount of municipal aid for the City of Norwalk. All in all, this funding will help meet Norwalk’s needs over the next two years, especially on some of its most pressing issues,” said Sen. Duff.
In the budget, Sen. Duff secured the following state aid for the 25th State Senate District:
-Norwalk will receive $76.4 million in total state aid over the next two years, a $21.35 million increase of approximately 38% over the previous biennial budget.
-Of that total, Norwalk will receive $32.89 million in school aid, a $1.9 million increase of about 6% over the previous biennial budget.
-Norwalk will also receive $383,000 in a new Special Education and Expansion Development grant.
-Darien will receive $2.42 million in total state aid over the next two years, a $263,000 increase of about 12% over the previous biennial budget.
-Of that total, Darien will receive $1.1 million in school aid, a $50,400 increase of about 4.9% over the previous biennial budget.
Sen. Duff also secured:
-$3.2 million for the Norwalk Transit District Route Enhancements and ADA Shortfall
-$2.9 million for the Women’s Business Development Council
-$2.2 million for the Norwalk Transit Coastal Link
-$2 million for The Workplace Retail Project
-$1.67 million for Person 2 Person
-$1.607 million for the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium
-$750,000 for Waterford’s Upstart Program
-$190,500 for the Connecticut Writing Project
-$161,726 for Stepping Stones
-$200,000 each for Filling in the Blanks, Robotics Funding, and Serving All Vessels Equally (SAVE) in Norwalk
-$100,000 each for Cornerstone Community Foundation, Norwalk International Cultural Exchange (NICE Festival), and the Norwalk Symphony
-$80,000 for the Youth Business Initiative
-$50,000 each for the Raymond Boathouse and Homes for Hope in Westport
-$40,000 each for Basket of Love, the MLK Scholarship Fund, and the Norwalk Housing Authority Scholarship Fund
“Our budget priorities and budget process here in Connecticut could not be more different than what’s happening right now in Washington, D.C. with Republicans and Donald Trump in charge,” Sen. Duff continued. “We’re paying down debt in Connecticut while they’re exploding it in Washington. We’re expanding access to childcare instead of slashing Head Start. We’re delivering record education aid to towns instead of dismantling the Department of Education. And we’re providing tax relief to lower-income working families, not billionaires. Democrats did right by Connecticut in this state budget.”
The 2026-27 State of Connecticut General Fund budget totals $49.392 billion, with a FY 26 growth rate of 5.4% and a FY 27 growth rate of 5.5%. The budget does not raise income, gasoline or sales taxes and is about $1 million under the constitutional spending cap in FY 26 and $75 million under the spending cap in FY 27.
The budget increases state aid to all local schools by $186 million to $2.4 billion and increases special education ‘excess cost’ aid to cities and towns by more than $80 million to $442 million.
The budget also increases by $250 per family the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for the working poor, totaling $26 million per year, affecting an estimated tens of thousands of Connecticut households (Norwalk has the 8th-highest number of EITC households in the state, with nearly 5,000 claiming the credit.)
Today’s state budget also fully funds Medicaid, including more than $400 million in increased funding to shore up the program on which 900,000 Connecticut residents rely, and it invests $7 million in Foodshare, a nonprofit that helps to feed hungry families.
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