Could SEBAC Policy Change Be Lucky Horse Shoe for the Governor's Horse Guards?

The Horse Guards may have one last hope to keep its Newtown facility and herd numbers if the SEBAC leaders' approval of changing the ratification process overturns the failure of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed union concession package.

Malloy's budget adjustment plan, based on feedback from the state's departments, called for laying off one full-time and one part time caretaker at the Second Company's Newtown facility, closing operations in Newtown, co-locating the First and Second Company Governor's Horse Guards in Avon and reducing both units' herd size to 10 each.

The plan is effective Sept. 1 if SEBAC is not ratified. Malloy announced Monday that "the unions have changed their ratification process to one that respects the will of the majority," stating "it was good news."

Whether that means Malloy's SEBAC agreement will be ratified to close the $1.6 billion budget hole remains to be seen. The agreement would halt state employee layoffs and program cuts in the budget adjustment plan.

"Over the next few days Mark Ojakian will be speaking with SEBAC leaders to understand which issues in the agreement need to be clarified," Malloy stated in a press release. "Given the limited number of issues that have been identified as problematic, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to have a clarified agreement that’s ready to be voted on by all state employees."

Chris Lyddy (D-106, Newtown) said at a press conference in Newtown last Thursday that the Horse Guards never would have been in the position of closing down one of its facilities if the unions approved the SEBAC aggreement in the first place.

"I am today calling on the unions to get back to the table and fix this problem," Lyddy said at Thursday's press conference. "The unions have a great stake in what direction the state is moving in, and they have to really come back to the table so that programs like this, and other programs, whether it be social service, education, municipal funding and public safety, do not get cut."