Marc E. Fitch

The nine Connecticut state employees arrested by police for abuse of a patient at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown continue to be paid by the state, according to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. A spokeswoman for DMHAS, Diana Lejardi, confirmed that none of the arrested employees have been terminated because the investigation is ongoing.

A survey by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association shows that business owners want Connecticut to reform its state retirement benefits by a wide margin.  Of the business owners surveyed, 91 percent want reforms to Connecticut’s state pension system, which includes eliminating overtime from pension calculations and moving employees into a 401(k) style defined contribution plan.

With the state facing a $3.5 billion budget hole and the legislature unable to reach a budget agreement, Gov. Dannel Malloy put forth a revised budget which offers a mix of smaller tax increases and municipal cuts. The governor’s "compromise" budget offers some mandate relief to municipalities but would require towns to pay a portion of teacher pensions, albeit less than his original budget proposal.

Noticeably absent from the latest budget by House Democrats are 11 of the 12 reforms Democratic senators requested as a condition of their approval of the union concessions deal passed on July 31st. In exchange for their votes, the Senators composed a list of 12 cost-saving reforms, which included requiring a vote on every union contract, reforming arbitration laws and ending overtime in pension payment calculations after the expiration of the SEBAC agreement in 2027.

An audit of the Connecticut state employee retirement system released Thursday led to Republican House Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, to call for a hearing on the auditors’ findings. The report by the state auditors revealed a number of instances of wasteful spending amounting to millions in overpayments or payments in violation of state statute during the years of 2012 and 2013.

Fewer and fewer students are enrolling in Connecticut’s schools but that hasn’t stopped education budgets from growing and per-pupil costs from sky-rocketing to previously unheard of levels, according to figures compiled by the Western Connecticut Council of Governments. The median, inflation-adjusted per-student cost in Connecticut has grown 35 percent between 2006 and 2016, largely due to declining enrollment coupled with growing budgets.