Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Jon Lender is a reporter on The Courant's investigative desk, with a focus on government and politics. Contact him at jlender@courant.com, 860-241-6524, or c/o The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115, and find him on Twitter@jonlender

September 4, 2011

At an Aug. 22 demonstration, state troopers protested the layoff of 56 new police recruits by saying they are "unique" among state workers. They displayed a sign indicating that troopers are "24/7" in their duty to respond to emergencies around the clock, while regular state workers are "8 hours/day."

Those numbers are beyond dispute. But other numbers, contained in state salary and benefits records obtained by The Courant, reveal some pluses to troopers' jobs that many regular "8 hours/day" state employees lack.

For instance, about 700 of Connecticut's 1,100 or so troopers were paid at least $80,000 during the past year, with 397 of them taking home more than $100,000, 46 receiving more than $150,000 � and five sergeants making more than $200,000, the highest at $233,566.

A lot of that pay comes from overtime, because the regular salary of a trooper doesn't reach $60,000 for nearly 10 years. Overtime pay requires extra work, of course, but troopers have an unusually large number of opportunities to get it.

Troopers also receive some unusual benefits, such as:

�"Hazardous duty" retirement after 20 years, at any age. Lifetime annual pensions amount to 50 percent of a trooper's average pay in his or her three top-paid years, plus an additional 2 percent of that three-year pay average for each year beyond 20. (For example, a 25-year trooper's annual pension would be 60 percent of his top three years' average pay.) Troopers have the opportunity to pack in the overtime much more heavily during the three high years that determine their pension.

�A half-hour's worth of pay for their trips from home to their duty stations, and then back home again at the end of their shift. That's a total of one hour's "portal to portal" pay each workday. The "portal-to-portal" provision recognizes that they're on duty, and could be called to an emergency, as soon as they get in their car.

�Personal off-duty use of a state police vehicle, with all gas paid for by the state. Personal use is allowed both inside Connecticut and within an out-of-state perimeter whose limits include the Taconic State Parkway to the west and Massachusetts Turnpike to the north. Permission from commanders is required for more distant out-of-state personal use of cars. The roof bars of flashing lights are removable when off duty. Troopers must leave police radios on, in case they're called to duty.

�A daily meal allowance, typically ranging from $3,000 to more than $5,000 a year. This income can be counted in the calculation of their pensions when they retire.

�A $500-a-year "cleaning stipend" for many non-uniformed state police, including those with administrative desk jobs. Troopers who wear uniforms on duty have them cleaned at the state's expense by a service that picks them up.

In recent weeks, the Connecticut State Police Union and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy have carried on a public debate over the layoff of the 56 rookie troopers, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of the coming week.

The troopers have said they deserve the 2.5 percent pay hike that they'll receive after voting last month to reject a two-year wage freeze � a freeze that nearly all other state employees accepted as part of a concession deal. Troopers say that went along with other state workers in accepting a 2009 wage freeze and granting other concessions in exchange for the promise of the raise this past July 1. And, again, they say they're "unique" in having jobs where they're always on call and can be killed, shot at, run into, or otherwise put in harm's way.

Malloy responded that he appreciates the troopers, but needs to save money in all areas of the budget � and, because troopers rejected the four-year protection against layoffs that went with the wage freeze, he is laying off the 56 least-senior of them.

The public debate has not gone into the details of dollars and contractual benefits. To try to deal with that part of the issue, The Courant requested pay records for the fiscal year that ended this past June 30 from the state Office of Policy and Management; OPM is the budget arm of the governor's office.

The records show that the highest earners have received heavy time-and-a-half payments for overtime that they work beyond their regular schedule. Overtime is optional; they get to sign up in advance for it to fill work shifts that need to be covered. They can decline overtime, but it is sometimes unavoidable because police need to work through the end of emergencies or the apprehension of offenders.

Whatever the reason for the extra work, 24 troopers received overtime payments at least equal to their regular pay in the past fiscal year, and 149 had overtime totals amounting to at least half their regular paychecks.

Those totals only include overtime pay for normal state police duty, and exclude overtime that troopers earn at construction sites. Private contractors reimburse the state for its overtime payments to troopers for construction-site duty � which, unlike normal overtime pay, does not count in pension calculations.

A sergeant at the top of the list had $76,421 in construction-site overtime, more than the $75,619 he received in regular pay. His regular overtime, eligible for figuring into his pension calculation, was $61,367. Other elements of his compensation included $4,684 in holiday pay and $5,449 in meal-allowance payments.

State police receive stipends of $100 a month for such special assignments as resident trooper, dog handler, diver, pilot, or member of SWAT teams or bomb squads. Their contract with the state provides for education incentives including a day's pay each year for career development training. It also gives them better notice of impending discipline proceedings than other state employees; the state must provide them with an internal affairs report at least five days prior to a meeting at which the contemplated discipline is to be discussed.

The state provides a $23,000 "stress fund" each year for studies and other measures to eliminate stress, and for exercise equipment to improve fitness. A $1 million insurance policy covers troopers injured by a motor vehicle when in or out of their cars.

Jeremiah McGuire, the state police union's director of labor relations, said the pay and benefit provisions were negotiated over the years in recognition of the rigors and dangers of troopers' jobs. He said the union's overwhelming vote to reject the pay freeze was based on troopers' belief that they had made significant concessions with the state under three previous governors � most recently, Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2009 � and they wanted the state to hold up its end of that 2009 deal by paying the raise due July 1.

He again brought up the hazards of the job in discussing the pay and benefits. "Today would be a good day to have that discussion," he said Friday, because it was the one-year anniversary of the death of Trooper Kenneth Hall, who was killed along I-91 in Enfield when a pickup truck sped out of control onto the shoulder where he had stopped an unsafe vehicle. "Today," McGuire said, "we sat with Kenny Hall's family."

"It is a dangerous job," McGuire said. "You work holidays and weekends. They know that's coming [when they take the job] but they anticipated that they would be compensated for it. They get shot at, they're run over, they get assaulted � and so they're compensated for that. They work [at all hours] away from their family for long periods of time, and, again, they're compensated for that."

Andrew Matthews, president of the state police union, said in an e-mail Friday:

On this first anniversary of the death of Trooper First Class Ken Hall, it is important to remember that our members risk their lives everyday to try to make Connecticut a safer place for everyone. We are always on call, never truly on our own time, and always responsible for the safety of those around us.

"We are proud that through collective bargaining, we have achieved decent wages (which typically takes 12-15 years to achieve top pay) for our members that reflects the risks and responsibilities of our profession.

"To the extent some members earn substantially more through overtime, (often not calculated into their pension) this reflects the chronic under staffing of our agency. This is why it is so critical to maintain the statutory mandate ... of 1248 Troopers and to reinstate the 56 Troopers who were laid off. This will save the taxpayers further overtime costs.

"Over the years, our members have made significant concessions (even when other state employees did not) to be part of the solution and to give back to the taxpayers during difficult financial times. With that said, our Troopers will continue to protect the public, while risking their own health, safety and even their life to honor the oath of office."

After the 56 layoffs only about 1,050 troopers will remain, and another 33 veterans are already putting in for retirement, Matthews said in an interview. There were 1,289 troopers in February 2009, he said.