In This Together CT

http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7647/90s-pension-raid-haunts-state-officials-now

A 1995 decision to put the state employee pension program on what amounts to a balloon mortgage schedule has come back to haunt Connecticut officials working now to bring fiscal stability to retirement benefits.

The state’s annual pension contribution, which currently stands at $844 million, is on pace to leap by 50 percent by 2017, double by 2026 and triple by 2038, based on actuarial consultants’ estimates prepared for the Post Employment Benefits Commission.

The panel, which was created to propose solutions to the huge funding gaps facing retirement benefit programs, also learned it would take a nearly $550 million contribution increase next fiscal year to get state government back on a level-funding schedule that would keep contributions relatively stable over the next 30 years. (more…)

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“Out of Balance? Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation Over 20 Years” (PDF)
Income inequality has increased more in Connecticut than in any other state. (PDF)

http://www.connpost.com/ci_12700411

By Ken Dixon
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 06/26/2009 09:52:42 PM EDT

HARTFORD — After a debate 10 minutes short of five hours, the Democratic House majority Friday voted 91-48 to create a partial budget package that will probably be vetoed before the end of the fiscal year Tuesday.

Fourteen of the 114-member House majority caucus voted against the legislation, which even supporters admitted may become only a benchmark for upcoming bipartisan negotiations to resolve the budget impasse and put in place a new two-year $38 billion spending package. (more…)

Governor Rell and State Employees Union Leaders today announced that they had worked out the framework for an agreement intended to help reduce costs and protect public services in the current fiscal year and the upcoming biennium. (more…)

http://www.thehour.com/story/467460

Hour Staff Writer
Posted on 04/03/2009

Several local Democrats broke ranks with their party Thursday by voting against a budget proposal that would raise taxes on higher income earners, borrow hundreds of millions of dollars and impose a surcharge on corporations. (more…)

The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) met with representatives of the Rell Administration on February 28, 2009. Although the governor’s representatives did not put forward a formal proposal until Feb. 24, SEBAC leadership has responded with thoughtful, detailed and sensible solutions at both our Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 meetings. (more…)