Pink Jahncke says the “large, long-standing downside of over-generous advantages” for state staff makes a “Connecticut return” unimaginable. Solely by stopping the “gravy practice” of “massively beneficiant” advantages by slashing public sector compensation can the Connecticut financial system rebound. However Jahncke’s premise is a mistake primarily based on such blatant lies it is stunning that it is onerous to grasp why it was printed.

Claiming that they’re receiving “grossly extreme pension advantages,” Jahncke asks, “Why not convey advantages all the way down to nationwide common ranges?” The truth is, the definitive 2015 examine of the State Workers Retirement System (SERS) by consultants from the Middle for Retirement Analysis at Boston School concluded that “the unfunded legal responsibility of SERS arises from legacy prices and funding shortfalls, not overly beneficiant advantages. for members. The report states that “the price of advantages supplied to present staff is definitely decrease than the (nationwide) common”. This conclusion got here earlier than civil servants agreed to additional important wage and profit cuts within the 2017 SEBAC negotiations. Thus, not solely are Connecticut state staff not receiving pension advantages “excessively beneficiant ”, however their advantages are properly under the nationwide common.

Jahncke helps his demand for a pay lower by citing the pay will increase over the previous two years. Nonetheless, he fails to acknowledge the large cuts made by Connecticut officers over the previous decade. Actuaries Cavanaugh McDonald estimated the state’s unionized employees had agreed to offer again beneath Democratic Governor Malloy’s management, which might whole greater than $ 24 billion over a 20-year interval. Moreover, a 2020 Connecticut Workplace of Legislative Evaluation report predicts that impending COLA cuts and necessary new contributions for the share of medical insurance premiums for workers retiring after July 1, 2022 will result in greater than 20% of medical insurance premiums. eligible staff, or almost 3,000, to retire earlier than this date. This impending “retirement wave” is anticipated to have such a dramatic affect on the state’s workforce that Governor Lamont employed the Boston Consulting Group to assist the state cope with the shrinking workforce.

Jahncke asserts that “authorities staff have loved a no-fire assure for a decade, whereas lots of of hundreds of personal sector employees have misplaced their jobs.” The truth is, relying on the state web site, and reported by Hearst Connecticut Media, the state’s workforce contracted almost 14% beneath the Malloy administration, bringing the state’s workforce all the way down to Seventies ranges. In response to statistics from the Connecticut Division of Labor, the whole Connecticut authorities sector workforce declined beneath Governor Malloy and Governor Lamont earlier than Covid by 10,000 employees to the bottom stage in additional than 20 years. A 2019 examine in america at present concluded that the state’s whole public sector workforce relative to inhabitants ranks Connecticut because the tenth leanest within the nation, whereas Connecticut has slashed its public sector workforce over the course of the final decade of the second largest share of all states. In distinction, based on the Division of Labor, employment within the Connecticut personal sector hit new historic highs earlier than Covid.

Whereas providing no supply, Jahncke claims that “for greater than a decade, compensation for state staff has exceeded compensation within the Connecticut personal sector by about 40%, the biggest hole within the nation.” . That unattributed declare possible stemmed from a 2015 Yankee Institute report claiming that Connecticut public sector employees earned 25 to 46 p.c greater than comparable personal sector employees.

First, take into account that the Yankee Institute just isn’t a good analysis supply, however a right-wing, black-money-powered propaganda outlet related to the State Coverage Community of conservative North Carolina billionaire Thomas Roe. . Roe’s specific aim, as Jane Mayer’s guide “Darkish Cash” reveals, was the destruction of public sector unions.

In a meticulous evaluation for the revered Institute for Financial Coverage, Monique Morrissey demystified the Yankee Institute report, revealing that it was primarily based on a hand-picked pattern of employees, used non-standard management variables and inflated the price of advantages for retirees within the public sector, whereas minimizing their price within the sector personal. Morrissey concluded that employees within the Connecticut public sector and not using a faculty diploma are paid a little bit greater than these within the personal sector, whereas these with college and graduate levels are paid considerably lower than within the personal sector, even in bearing in mind the extra beneficiant advantages of the general public sector. In brief, writes Morrissey, “the taxpayers are getting an excellent deal!”

Lastly, Jahncke mistakenly asserts that “SERF and TRF are considerably underfunded, not too long ago as Lamont and his predecessor, Dannel Malloy, lowered state contributions to SERF with the complete approval of union leaders.” . Though pension funds are underfunded, Malloy and Lamont for the primary time absolutely funded the required pension contributions from the state annually in energy, whereas scrupulously implementing the reform prescriptions of Boston School consultants. . The modifications to contributions outcome from the 30-year extension of the amortization interval for each funds, as really helpful within the Boston School report.

Jahncke’s editorial is riddled with lies. Connecticut Taxpayers Get a Good Deal!

Sean B. Goldrick
Greenwich, CT

After a profession in worldwide finance, specializing in Asian equities and company evaluation, Goldrick’s opinion writing has appeared in numerous publications together with the Washington Publish, Windfall Journal, The Day of New London and Hartford. Present.