Yankee Institute is demanding accountability from the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System (CSCU) after a report by the Office of the State Comptroller revealed “inappropriate spending, disregard for financial practices and procedures, inadequate reporting, and misuse of state property.”
According to the report, CSCU leadership — including Chancellor Terrence Cheng, university presidents and other staff — inappropriately used their P-cards on meals, entertainment, car services and more. Cheng, for instance, spent more than $19,000 on food and alcohol for the past several years.
“This mismanagement by CSCU violates the public’s trust in our institutions and reeks of arrogance,” Yankee Institute President Carol Platt Liebau said. “Connecticut’s hardworking residents already endure some of the nation’s highest cost of living expenses, and they do not deserve to have their taxpayer dollars spent with such callous disregard.”
Liebau added, “CSCU is raising tuitions but unions representing CSCU employees are clamoring to bust the fiscal guardrails, complaining about how the 2017 spending reforms have led to a lack of funding. Yet this report clearly indicates CSCU does not deserve to be trusted with additional funding — let alone the money they currently receive. For CSCU’s unions to call for weakening the fiscal guardrails, which have rebuilt a sound budgeting process and put the state on a path to prosperity, shows a shocking lack of awareness for Connecticut’s taxpayers, many of whom are struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes.”
In September, Yankee Institute and Reason Foundation, a national public policy research organization, released a study called “The Case for CT’s Fiscal Guardrails” which confirms that the spending reforms have saved Connecticut more than $170 million since enacted and, if kept intact, can save the state $7 billion over the next 25 years.
