Employees and union stewards at the Department of Correction took 69,169 hours of union leave time over the course of 2018 and 2019, costing taxpayers $2.3 million, according to a report from the Auditors of […]
Connecticut’s overtime costs rose $5 million over the course of fiscal year 2021, topping out at $239 million, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis. Despite declining numbers of incarcerated people in Connecticut’s prison system, […]
Prisoners housed in the Cheshire Correctional Institution’s COVID quarantine unit received word they are no longer allowed to shower, according to a May 1 notice sent from Counselor Supervisor Damian M. Doran to the unit’s […]
Connecticut Department of Correction employees logged 66,447 hours of union leave time over the course of two years, with a total cost of $2.2 million, according to a newly-released audit. In their review, the auditors […]
In the wake to two controversial police shootings in Connecticut, the latest Connecticut State Police contract exempts officers’ personnel records and grievance hearings from public disclosure under the state’s Freedom of Information statute. Along with […]
State spending on overtime increased slightly over last year for the second quarter, according to a release from the Office of Fiscal Analysis, although some state agencies showed progress in reducing the number overtime hours […]
State auditors found 201 union representatives at the Department of Correction racked up $894,199 of paid union leave time over two years, according to a newly released audit of Connecticut’s prison system.
Suzanne Bates wrote that it’s hard to be a conservative in Connecticut in an op-ed for the Hartford Courant, but it’s probably even harder to be a conservative government union member in Connecticut.
Connecticut has spent $13.9 million more in overtime for state employees during the first half of this new fiscal year than it did in 2017, according to a report by the Office of Fiscal Analysis.
Connecticut had been making headway in reducing overtime spending since a high of $256.1 million in 2015. In 2017, Connecticut spent a total of $204.4 million.
The Connecticut State Legislature will begin its 2023 session on January 4th and will adjourn on June 7th. The “long session,” as non-election years are called in Hartford, will be centered around the biennial budget. The Office of the State Comptroller reports that state government found a way to spend $47.11 billion in 2022 and, if trends continue, we can expect that number to grow even more going forward. Concerns over energy prices, inflation, and general cost of living continue to dominate the headlines and the threat of a recession hovers over economic forecasts.
What will our elected officials be working on to improve policy outcomes for Connecticut residents? What tax reform proposals will there be? What can be done to lower home heating bills? How will state and local budgets be affected by fewer federal resources? How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements?
While we wait to see the thousands of individual and committee bills that while dominate the myriad policy debates this year, Yankee Institute is hard at work promoting free-market solutions to the problems we face from Stamford to Putnam and Mystic to Salisbury. To that end, we have produced a new edition of our Charter for Change. The Charter provides commonsense reforms to make Connecticut’s government work for its residents.
Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! And that’s why we want to work with you to build a broad-based coalition to encourage sound policy reforms to enable Connecticut residents to forge a better future for themselves and their families.
It’s also imperative that we do so. As we noted in a report and CT Mirror op-ed last year, the debate over whether we’re in a national recession really misses the point for Connecticut residents. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. Our economy has grown at one of the slowest rates in the nation for the past decade, and we are getting outpaced year after year. We’re not attracting innovation and industry. We’re losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where it’s easier to make a living.
But together, we can reverse this trend.
At Yankee Institute, we know Connecticut is a state with boundless opportunity, and we intend to help make our state more than a place where people are just able to make ends meet! Connecticut should be a place where everyone can thrive – and with your help, it will be.