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A new Yankee Institute study revealed how overtime spiking in state government is inflating pensions and imposing staggering costs on Connecticut taxpayers.

You can read the report here.

These findings should alarm the overburdened taxpayers of our state. Sadly, they are not surprising to Republicans in the legislature.

Earlier this year, I introduced legislation to reform this broken system. In my testimony, I made clear that this is not about targeting employees who rely on overtime as a legitimate part of their compensation. I greatly value the hard work and sacrifices of our state employees—particularly our police officers and corrections officers. In fact, I believe many agencies should be paying higher starting salaries and maintaining full staffing levels, which would reduce mandatory overtime, improve working conditions, and ultimately save taxpayer dollars.

What we cannot ignore are the extreme cases of abuse—where individuals are making more than double their regular salary in overtime, resulting in pensions that in some cases actually exceed their base salary. That is unsustainable and unfair to taxpayers who are already stretched thin.

Our proposal took a balanced approach: cracking down on the worst cases of pension spiking while ensuring that employees who legitimately earn overtime through hard work are fairly compensated. Unfortunately, Democrats on the Appropriations Committee refused to even allow a vote. Republicans will reintroduce the legislation next year.

We must strike a fair balance—protecting the dignity and compensation of dedicated public employees while safeguarding taxpayers from systemic abuse. Connecticut’s pension system must remain sustainable, and taxpayers deserve confidence that it is being managed responsibly.

I have no ill will toward state employees. My job is to look out for the taxpayers. Right now, many agencies in the Lamont administration are understaffed and poorly managed, which only drives costs higher and creates opportunities for abuse. Connecticut taxpayers are being fleeced again and again, and it’s time for real reform.

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