State overtime spending has reached $119 million through the first half of the fiscal year, according to data released by the General Assembly’s Office of Fiscal Analysis. That number is projected to grow to $238 million by June 30, according to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.
The Department of Correction is responsible for $37.6 million, which represents 31.6 percent of overtime spending. The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) is next at $26.2 million, or 22 percent.
In a blog post on the CBIA website, its chief economist Peter Gioia wrote that overtime numbers should be “setting off alarm bells throughout the [State] Capitol.”
Gioia said in his post each DMHAS employee using overtime could build up $21,738 in overtime earnings on top of their regular pay on an annualized basis through the end of the fiscal year.
The CBIA, Gioia said in his post, has advocated reforming the state pension system by, among other things, not counting overtime pay as wages in the last three years prior to retirement—the years on which pension calculations are based. He said this would prevent so-called pension spiking—running up overtime hours during the final three years of a state employee’s tenure.
