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, […]
Employees at the state-run Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital racked up $102,213,466 in overtime over two years, according to a report by the Auditors of Public Accounts. This averages out to $38,870 in […]
Some employees with Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services worked up to 137 consecutive days, bolstering their annual pay by three times their base salary, according to a report by the Auditors of Public […]
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 physicians and psychiatrists for Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services received two additional step increases to their pay scale as part of the bevy of union contracts approved with the 2017 SEBAC deal.
Connecticut’s Whiting Forensic Hospital was forced to rehire employees terminated in 2009 and 2010 for the abuse of state psychiatric patients after grievance arbitrators overturned management decisions, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request.
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.
Connecticut spent $119 million on state employee overtime during the first six months of fiscal year 2016, but that number does not include overtime for employees in the Departments of Transportation or Motor Vehicles.
Citing “availability” and “reliability” issues with the data, the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) said it could only provide overtime numbers for employees paid through the state’s General Fund. That rules out DOT or DMV employees, who are paid through the Special Transportation Fund.
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.