With a hiring freeze, belt-tightening and better-than-expected tax collections in June, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Monday that the state expects to finish the just-completed fiscal year with a $22 million surplus.

Rell immediately called for the General Assembly to return to Hartford for a special session in the coming weeks to earmark the surplus for helping senior citizens and others to pay their skyrocketing energy bills this fall and winter.

"In fact, we anticipate receiving assistance requests from those who have never asked for help before," Rell said. "And I am particularly fearful for our senior citizens, who are already struggling with high utility and other costs. They must be a special focus of our efforts for heating assistance."

Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, the highest-ranking senator, said Democrats had already planned to present their own energy proposals today to help cash-strapped consumers who have been paying record prices.

"I'm in complete agreement with Gov. Rell" on spending the surplus for energy assistance, Williams said.

The news of a surplus is a turnaround for the state. Just last month, officials were predicting a deficit against the backdrop of a weakening economy. Over the past six months, tax collections have fallen sharply and have caused state officials to scramble to prevent a budget hole.

The state's projected surplus collapsed from $263 million in mid-January to only $15.7 million in mid-April - which is less than one half of 1 percent of the overall budget. With a tissue-thin margin, the budget has been teeter-tottering between surplus and deficit.

The collapse in revenues prompted Rell to ban taxpayer-paid travel to out-of-state destinations and impose a hiring freeze, thus saving millions of dollars on an annual basis.

The $22 million surplus is projected for the fiscal year that ended June 30, but the final calculations will not be made until after Labor Day. For the current fiscal year, which started July 1, the projected deficit remains at $150 million.

Rell's budget director, Robert Genuario, said the state saved $30 million on the spending side in June and collected $12 million more in taxes than expected. The state income tax collections were better than expected - coming largely through capital gains, dividends and interest payments from entrepreneurs, investors, and the self-employed. The taxes collected from withholding, which is paid by the majority of workers, showed no growth in April, May and June.

For the current fiscal year, Rell ordered state agencies and commissions to make budget cuts of 3 percent to 5 percent to close a projected gap of $150 million. The new cuts are in addition to the hiring freeze and other measures. The announced cuts have included $6.7 million at the University of Connecticut, $5.7 million from state-administered general assistance, and $2.8 million from the popular ConnPACE prescription drug subsidy program for the elderly.