Report: State Overtime Spending on $209 Million Pace

Connecticut’s on pace to spend $208.9 million on state employee overtime this fiscal year based on a new report from the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.
OFA reports the state spent $156.7 million on overtime through the first three quarters of 2017. At that rate, overtime spending will decrease by 4.6% over the $219 million spent in 2016.
2016 marked a dramatic shift in overtime costs, as the state spent 14.5% less than in 2015, when spending hit an all-time high of $256.1 million.
Through March 31, 2017, state employee overtime cost $11.4 million less than the same period last fiscal year.
Five state agencies are responsible for 93% of all overtime spending through the first three quarters of this fiscal year, led by the Department of Correction.
Of those five agencies, three spent less on overtime than the same period last year:

• Department of Correction: $47.6 million ($53.5 million through third quarter 2016)
• Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services: $37 million ($38 million)
• Department of Developmental Services: $33.8 million ($33.4 million)
• Department of Children and Families: $16 million ($14.2 million)
• Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection: $11.7 million ($15.3 million)
• All others: $10.6 million ($13.6 million)

Based on the OFA report, 16,690 state workers accumulated overtime in the first nine months of 2017, with an average payment of $9,387 per worker.

The top five agencies accounted for 11,477 of those workers, or 69%.
The Teachers' Retirement Board was the only agency with no overtime spending.
State employee overtime costs have a major impact on Connecticut’s long-term fiscal health.
CBIA and the Connecticut Institute for the 21st Century continue to push for pension reform, including ending the practice of counting overtime pay as wages in the last three years prior to retirement.
These are the years used for pension calculations. Factoring overtime inflates pensions while adding to the overall costs of Connecticut's state employee retirement system.
Controlling state employee pensions and retiree benefits—among the highest in the country—is a fiscal and economic imperative, with Connecticut facing billion dollar-plus budget deficits in 2018 and 2019.