Eliminating the red ink from this year’s budget was no easy task, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they were able to work out their differences with the Newtown shooting as the backdrop.

The bipartisan package the House and the Senate adopted Wednesday night reduces the amount the state spends on hospitals, social services, and education. It also eliminates longevity bonuses for non-union state employees and raises about $26 million in revenue by changing how some programs operate.

The package does not include cuts to nonprofit community service providers.

Nonprofit community providers, who offer services to the developmentally disabled and other vulnerable populations, will retain their 1 percent cost-of-living increase. There was talk it would be eliminated, but House Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, said that was something Democrats felt “we had to hold onto…read more