Two key issues – tolls and teacher pension costs – weren’t voted out of the finance committee this week. But that doesn’t mean either issue is dead.
Teachers Pension
Posted inEducation
See how your town fares in the governor’s proposed budget
Poor communities would gain the most through a redistribution of the Education Cost Sharing ESC) grant, while wealthy towns would lose the most.
Posted inMoney
Pension debt stands between Lamont and fiscal stability for CT
For Gov. Ned Lamont, who insists he will end Connecticut’s cycle of budget deficits — there is no route to long-term stability that doesn’t go through the teachers’ pension.
Posted inNews
Lawmakers renew teacher pension cost-sharing debate
Should the state bill towns for teacher pension costs? Former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy first raised the idea of sharing the fastest-growing cost in the state budget with cities and towns. But while Malloy failed to win legislative support before he left office, the debate over whether to bill communities for a share of municipal teacher pension costs is not over.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Medicare program fix adds red ink to CT’s finances
To find some of the money to reverse cuts to a popular social services program, the legislature is expected Monday to raid $17.8 million owed to next fiscal year’s state budget — which already is at risk of a significant deficit.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Nappier fears CT may lose discipline on funding pensions
As she begins her final year as state treasurer, Denise L. Nappier fears Connecticut may be retreating from the gains it’s made over the last decade in responsibly tackling its huge retirement benefit liabilities.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Shifting pension costs from state to teachers costs CT $20M
The transfer of tens of millions in required annual contributions to the teachers’ pension fund from the state and onto educators will increase the state’s long-term pension debt by more than $20 million, according to state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier.
Posted inEducation, Money
New CT budget could shift teacher pension costs onto future taxpayers
If legislators vote on a new state budget Thursday, it may include a complex proposal from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to restructure skyrocketing contributions to the teachers’ pension program — potentially inflating and then shifting billions of dollars in expenses onto a future generation.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Towns ask why CT officials won’t touch teachers’ pensions
Connecticut towns are asking why state officials are not reducing retirement benefits nor deferring another income tax cut for retired teachers, given the state’s huge budget crisis.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Malloy plan hands poorest municipalities a life preserver and an anchor
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wants to help Hartford and Connecticut’s poorest communities stabilize their local budgets. But he also wants all municipalities — including the poorest — to begin paying one-third of teacher pension costs set to explode over the next 15 years. Those goals may not be politically compatible.
Posted inEducation, Money
Teacher pensions: How Connecticut compares
Connecticut’s public school teachers have to wait longer than educators in nearly every other state to qualify for life-long pension payments and are in the middle of the pack for the amount of their salaries they must contribute for the future benefit, according to a recent survey.
Posted inEducation
Report: CT 4th worst in unfunded pension liabilities per teacher
Connecticut has the 4th highest pension costs for its public school teachers in the U.S., a new report released Monday shows. The high costs are largely attributed to a failure to save enough to pay for future pension promises, the report from TeacherPensions.org concludes.
Posted inMoney
Teacher pension fund: Lower earnings mean CT must chip in more
State officials have lowered their expectations for investment earnings from the teachers’ pension fund. And while this move was hailed as an important step toward more realistic fiscal planning, it also worsens a huge state budget deficit looming after the 2016 elections.
Posted inMoney
Malloy calls for big change in pension financing, modest business tax cuts
EAST HARTFORD — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy outlined Wednesday a sweeping plan to overhaul state government’s pension system, pushing some costs off for a decade and a half to control spiking costs that he argued could drive up taxes and drain vital programs. He also proposed modest cuts in business taxes and a cut of 500 state workers.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut paying today for pension sins of the past
As legislators and others look closely at the cost of state employee salaries and benefits, one crucial factor often gets little or no attention: The overwhelming bulk of costs Connecticut faces today to support pension programs for state employees and public school teachers is from cleaning up problems caused years – and in many cases decades – ago.