State's Overtime Costs Increase
HARTFORD, CT — The amount of money Connecticut spent on overtime between July and December 2017 increased by $13.9 million to $115.2 million.
Five state agencies that provide 24/7 services account for over 93 percent of those overtime expenditures.
According to the most recent report from the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the Department of Correction spent $36 million in overtime, which is a 22.5 percent increase over what it spent last year. The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services spent $26.3 million in overtime, an increase of 9.9 percent. The Department of Developmental Services spent $22.5 million, an increase of 2.3 percent. The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which includes the state police, spent $12 million on overtime. That’s a 28.3 percent increase. And the Department of Children and Families spent $11.3 million, an 11.8 percent increase over last year. The rest of state agencies spent $7.1 million, up $600,000 over last year.
“While we do our best to manage overtime use and expenditures, as exemplified by the steep cuts in overtime over the past several fiscal years while simultaneously reducing the state workforce, the needs of state agencies and uncontrollable events do, sometimes, necessitate the use of overtime,” Chris McClure, a spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said. “The amounts being reported as increases, are amounts over the near-impossible to match low expenditures of FY17, but are still in line with FY15 amounts.”
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