Spokesmen for Attorney General Ken . Opinion: Gov. A native of Philadelphia, Julia now calls Connecticut home, but won't give up her 215 area code. listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information. That includes Gov. 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. Private-sector employees can only dream of having that, said Sen. Henri Martin, R-Bristol. Would he risk all the ARPA funds that the state has by doing this? Ritter warned. According to state employee union documents, Lamont is proposing to award all unionized state employees three annual base salary increases of 2.5% and, for about two-thirds of employees, annual "step increases" of 2.0%. How Are My Health Insurance Premiums Changing? Wednesdays Warrior: AJJ Foundation offers music, CT Transit bus driver injured in Rt. . One source is a pension, another is Social Security, and the last depends on how much you have invested in retirement funds. The increases, part of a four-year package negotiated by Gov. The alternatives are suboptimal. The Charter provides commonsense reforms to make Connecticuts government work for its residents. While unions and Lamont argue the raises and bonuses will help stem a surge in state employee retirements, Drescher isnt buying it. From there, you can test a few different scenarios in the calculator using higher salaries and/or more years worked. Currently, if you are subject to IRMAA then the State pays the full amount so you will not have any out of pocket costs. The BCG study was supposed to facilitate a third approach. Those who fall under the Tier 2 or 2a plans must be either age 60 with 25 years of service or 62 with 10 years of services to be eligible for normal retirement. Ideal timing for the announcement would be between Christmas and the New Year. Here are five things to know about the deal: Employees covered by the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition would get a 2.5 percent wage increase and step increases retroactive to July 1, 2021. Part-timers would be eligible for prorated bonuses. Gross wages.The median household income is $80,958 (2022). 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. The Insurance Department, which has 25 fraud investigators, will run its $245,000 of pay-raise money through Schedule C, spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman confirmed. By 2020, the state paid $2.2 billion to 55,348 retirees. With that in mind, there are two significant changes to the CT State Employees Pensions that will affect those who retire on or after July 1, 2022. If you are concerned about the effects of these changes then you should begin to look at your financial standing and evaluate if you are in a position to retire before July 1st. Gov. There are a few strategies one can take if they are thinking about retirement. Over the next decade, he added, going with one-time bonuses and a smaller inflationary increase saves the state about $150 million. CONNECTICUT Thousands of state employees received a scheduled raise Wednesday despite Gov. (Patrick Semansky/AP) Feds under the general . All Rights Reserved. Therefore, the old procedure would have provided at least two cost of living adjustments in the same time frame. The state has a windfall of $1 billion from recent sales tax collections due to inflation, boosting the surplus to nearly $4 billion. It also created a hybrid 401k-style/pension plan for new state employees that is far less generous than the plan for current employees at the time. New York government officials confirmed on Thursday that Gov. Employees would also get a $2,500 bonus if they are employed as of March 31, 2022, and a $1,000 if they are employed July 1, 2022. Only limited exceptions apply. The contracts allow workers to accept the $2,500 extra payment and still retire before July 1. Required fields are marked *. Morrissey Wealth Management will never sell your information. will call the "2022 Changes") go into effect as of July 1, 2022(the "Effective Date"). The tentative contract, which also delivers a 10.9% raise to most of the workers, is the first full state contract agreement of this year. But the votes followed a robust, three-hour public hearing during which state employees argued the raises would help reverse a staffing crisis and also were overdue, given the many concessions unions granted over the past 12 years. We dont have to continue to overtax our citizens because we took federal money, Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Stratford) said. The House, where Democrats also hold a majority, approved the package 96-52 on Thursday. They arent in psych hospital beds. While annual retirements usually range from 2,000 to 2,500 per calendar year, more than 3,400 state employees have either retired or filed their written intentions to do so between January and March 31, 2022, alone. The pay . For example, an employee earning 50,000 may receive a $2,500 pay increase resulting in . If inflation were 1% Then the absolute COLA would be low, but the burden on the state budget and taxpayers would be growing, because inflation under 2% leads to a real pension burden increase. Spring & Summer at Mt. Most state employees would get a $4,500 raise in the first year of the budget. Part-timers would be eligible for pro-rated bonuses. Any wage hikes and benefits would come on the heels of big wage increases in 2019 and 2020 under the old wage contract, which expired this past summer. If you worked in CT and then decided to retire elsewhere, then the number of plans you can choose from will be more limited. 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. CONNECTICUT Thousands of state employees received a scheduled raise Wednesday despite Gov. From there you would input your highest three years of work history, and the number of years that you have worked for the State including any years you may be eligible to buyback. Thats when more stringent retirement benefits ordered as part of a 2017 labor concessions deal take effect. The changes will only affect those who retire after July of 2022, but according to the OLR report, historically such changes have resulted in a larger number of employees retiring before the cut-off date. This proposed contract is a raw deal for the working people of this state, Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) said. CT Mirror. The deal thats been presented to you is going to radically diminish the General Assembly and this committees discretion over spending for years to come, warned Ken Girardin, Yankees research director, who predicted it would eventually strip funding from social services, municipal aid and the states ability to offer tax cuts to Connecticut households. But Osten said the agreements are essential to maintain a state workforce that is at its smallest size since the 1950s, an argument Lamont has made as well. The legislatures Appropriations Committee endorsed significant raises and $3,500 in bonuses Monday for about 46,000 unionized state employees. The agreements, which unions ratified earlier this spring, are retroactive to the start of this fiscal year, which began last July 1. Whoops! The raise includes a 3.5 percent pay increase and a two percent annual step increase. Meanwhile, for the 170,000 K-12 employees, a $2,000 bonus is on the way before June 30. If you are single, you can check out the single life annuity (likely the best) or a period certain option. Rob Baril, the president of SEIU 1199, in July 2021 arguing that state employees deserve raises. And thats 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. Virtually everyone in the state knows the situation and feels it is unfair. BCG documented that the sclerotic state bureaucracy takes an average of 33 weeks to hire a new employee. Tier 3 is a contributory plan that includes employees first hired on or after July 1, 2011 except for certain employees in higher education who are eligible to participate in another retirement plan. state income tax ranges from 3% to 6.99%. Fire pit tables provide heat and a place to set down food and drinks, making them great for outdoor entertaining. Full legislature expected to vote before May 4, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). He has been the state finances reporter at CT Mirror since it launched in 2010. House Minority Leader Republican Vincent Candelora challenged Lamont. Therefore, it really depends on your situation and if you are unsure or need help then it may be a good idea to get in touch with a financial planner. Ned Lamonts administration. Keep in mind, if you do not qualify for normal retirement in any of these plans, then you will not receive the full amount of the benefit. The Associated Press contributed to this story. what was the fastest dinosaur Were losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where its easier to make a living. (The state's minimum wage is $11.15 an hour.) FY 2022 Financial Results At or Above High End of Guidance with Practice Collections Growth of 49.1% compared to FY 2021; New Market Entries announced in Connecticut, Delaware, No Its some short-term spending and relief for our taxpayers in order to get that long-term gain, Candelora said. Osten said the raises reflect the valuable work state employees provide daily, and particularly throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Lamonts administration predicted in May that the current fiscal year would have a $2.3 billion shortfall. Ned Lamonts administration and already ratified by the 35 bargaining units involved, now heads to the full General Assembly for final consideration. The largest change is the elimination of the minimum annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for pension benefits and delaying a retirees first COLA until 30 months after retirement. The House Finance Committee changed that to be a $10,000 raise for all troopers. Consider scheduling an appointment here. I see the sacrifices every day, said Sean Howard, a union official and one of 4,500 unionized state correction officers most of whom risked contracting the coronavirus over the past two years. The deal, which covers 46,000 state employees, comes as the state is losing workers to the private sector and as the state anticipates thousands of state worker retirements before July 1 when benefit changes kick in per a 2017 agreement with state workers. The tipped wage would rise to $6.75 from $3.75 over the same time period. In other words, the State will pay the full standard premium, plus half of any extra. By the latest estimates of the comptroller's office, 14,764 state employees a quarter of the workforce will be eligible to retire on July 1, 2022, when a concession deal negotiated in . The package was previously approved by the House. Keith has spent most of his 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 Connecticuts transportation and social services networks. The Senate gave final approval Friday to a four-year package of raises for state employees that includes $3,500 in bonuses to help stem a surge in worker retirements. CT DOT faces criticism following overnight tree-cutting, Haar: Payouts at fading CT trash agency offer lessons in a crisis, State nursing homes could face fine due to too many empty beds, CT legislators revive debate over firefighters' cancer benefits. 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