WPBN: With the money that was provided by taxpayers, the state of Connecticut payed hundreds of college employees, and now they are demanding that the money be returned.
A member of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents Faculty Advisory Committee, who is also a professor at Gateway Community College, disclosed on Friday that a review of payments from 2022 revealed that a calculation error led to some Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSC) employees receiving overpayment. This information was disclosed during a meeting of the committee.
“We’re talking about a couple of hundred folks and the amounts range up to $4,500 so people are about to be asked to repay to the system thousands of dollars that they were overpaid a couple years ago that they just identified,” Colena Sesanker stated.
In the beginning of this month, staff were informed, according to a spokesperson for the CSCU. In the course of an examination of the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, also known as SEBAC, the error was discovered on December 3rd.
A mathematical error was found, which may have resulted in the overpayment of a “significant number” of employees, according to the representative for the company.
An audit is currently being carried out by the school system in order to determine the number of staff who were paid more than they were entitled to. It has been stated by the officials that they will inform those employees about the amount of money that they were overpaid and how they might refund it.
“To ensure accuracy and transparency moving forward, CSCU has engaged an external auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive review of payroll transactions spanning the past four years. The audit is expected to conclude in early 2025. Once complete, we will notify any affected employees in writing and work closely with them to address the situation. To help ease any potential financial burden, we are committed to offering flexible repayment options,” according to the CSCU spokesperson’s statement.
Other members of the faculty advisory council for the council of Regents have stated that they are aware that this has had an impact on a significant number of individuals at the Manchester campus.
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“It seems too there’s a pattern of folks or part-time EAs at the time, it seems to have impacted them the most and now they’re full-time,” Catherine Carter, of the state Community College Manchester, stated.
She went on to say, “Around that time, there were also a large number of us who were underpaid,” but no memo was received at the time.
Here is the video of the meeting available online.
The governor asked Comptroller Sean Scanlon to examine CSCU’s financial situation. In particular, they examined improper spending, poor reporting, and misappropriation of public property.
“At the request of Governor Lamont, this audit was conducted in an effort to bring greater accountability and transparency to spending within the CSCU system—both of which the students and taxpayers of our state deserve,” Scanlon stated. “Unfortunately, this audit revealed troubling gaps in oversight and questionable spending practices. Our recommendations provide a clear path forward with more comprehensive policies, consistent enforcement, and greater overall accountability.”
According to him, the complete report details cases where Procurement Cards, or P-Cards, were misused for costs including non-university business tickets, transactions that did not have the state sales tax correctly deducted, and purchases that lacked travel authorizations or receipts.
The comptroller said that excessive spending on meals and auto services, splitting payments to avoid spending caps, and using the P-Card for illegal purchases (including gas and car detailing) were all examples of P-Card abuse.
