Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

New CT budget missing $52M to cover union retirement benefits

  • Money
  • by Keith M. Phaneuf
  • May 2, 2014
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"
State Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo

The CT Mirror

State Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo

If Connecticut’s chief fiscal watchdog is correct, there’s a $52 million hole in the new state budget Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and majority Democratic legislators hope to enact Saturday.

Despite a warning sent to the administration seven months ago by Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo – also a Democrat – the compromise budget unveiled Friday by the governor and legislative leaders fails to include $51.6 million to cover contractually required health insurance costs for retired workers.

Lembo’s office, which administers health coverage for retirees, confirmed Friday evening it still thinks that increase is necessary to handle an anticipated surge in retirements in the new budget – particularly involving state prison guards.

And a spokesman for the union representing correction officers said it would like the funds restored to the budget. But he also acknowledged the governor and legislature are in a tight spot, given rapidly shrinking projections for state tax receipts.

Though full details of the tentative budget deal hadn’t been released as of 7:30 p.m., Friday – nearly nine hours after Malloy and Democratic leaders announced it – the governor’s budget director, Benjamin Barnes, confirmed that the $51.6 million Lembo sought was not included in the spending plan, which is expected to approach $19 billion.

Malloy also failed to include the $51.6 million in the $19 billion budget he proposed for 2014-15 in February.

The legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis issued a report in mid-March concluding that the governor’s plan was $69.4 million out of balance, and that the $51.6 million shortfall in the retiree health care account was the chief culprit.

Barnes has rejected Lembo and OFA’s assessment.

While he acknowledged the state’s contractual obligation to pay retiree health care costs during an interview in mid-March, he said, “We’re not convinced we’re going to need those funds. We’re convinced we’re going to live within the budget we proposed.”

Barnes said there is potential to reduce health care costs through various efficiencies, including savings from a new dental services contract award.

Still, the legislature’s Appropriations Committee was concerned enough to add the money Lembo sought in the budget proposal it adopted March 27. The committee’s solution was to take $51.6 million from this year’s budget surplus – estimated then to be $505 million – and carry it forward into 2014-15.

But fiscal analysts have since reduced that surplus forecast drastically, from $505 million to $43 million, to reflect shrinking state tax receipts. That problem also led analysts to declare the Appropriations Committee budget about $285 million in deficit.

Faced with the prospect of wiping out huge amounts of red ink, and having almost no surplus to use, Democratic legislative leaders went along with the Malloy administration’s strategy and opted to dismiss Lembo’s warning.

The Republican minority in the House and Senate included the $51.6 million in both of the budget proposals it unveiled over the past three weeks.

Larry Dorman, spokesman for Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the union that represents prison guards wants to see the $51.6 million in the budget.

“We’re always concerned” when the state fails to save enough to meet obligations to workers, he said. “That’s why we’re always monitoring these budget developments.

But Dorman said projecting worker retirements isn’t an exact science.

And he noted that Malloy undertook a major initiative in the second year of his term to bolster the pension fund significantly.

“This process is always fluid and subjected to ups and downs, both in the short- and long-term,” Dorman said. “But we do have to take the long view and remember that this governor and legislative leadership have made a commitment to funding pensions, something that their predecessors didn’t make.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith M. Phaneuf A winner of numerous journalism awards, Keith Phaneuf has been CT Mirror’s state finances reporter since it launched in 2010. The former State Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Keith has spent most of 31 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. A former contributing writer to The New York Times, Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Equity issues dominate hearing on Lamont’s marijuana bill
by Kelan Lyons and Mark Pazniokas

The administration's testimony took up the hearing's first five hours. More than 130 people are signed up to speak.

Connecticut House joins national civil rights campaign over Black hair styles
by Mark Pazniokas

The Connecticut House voted for a bill intended to protect Black women from discrimination over their hair.

House approves big municipal aid pledge, tax incentive bills
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Mark Pazniokas

The House approved bills Wednesday pledging $100 million-plus in new municipal aid and offering tax incentives to attract data centers.

CT legislature poised to make early budget pledge to help cities and towns
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The state House is expected to approve more than $100 million in new, annual PILOT grants to municipalities.

Connecticut GOP picks Susan Hatfield as state chair
by Mark Pazniokas

Susan Hatfield, vice chair of the Connecticut Republican Party, will complete the term of the former chair, J.R. Romano.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Lamont’s new vaccination priorities are simple and smart
by Richard Davies

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s new age-eligibility vaccine plan is simple, smart and straightforward. The more complicated the rules are, the greater the chance of screw-ups and of well-connected people getting their shots before they should. The governor is doing a good job.

Opinion Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Opinion Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

Opinion COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO