Spending
Expenditures are the money the State spends on government services, programs, and other functions. In fiscal year 2020, the State of Connecticut's total General Fund expenditures were approximately $19.16 billion. More than half ($9.93 billion) of those expenditures were categorized as "fixed costs."
According to Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management the General Assembly’s Office of Fiscal Analysis, fixed costs include Medicaid; state and teacher pension contributions; health, disability, unemployment, and workers compensation insurance for state workers and retirees; hospital supplemental payments, and debt service payments on prior years’ bond allocations.
Since fiscal year 2000, the percentage of Connecticut's total General Fund expenditures attributable to fixed costs has increased 16.5 percentage points — from 35.2 percent in fiscal year 2000 to 51.7 percent in fiscal year 2020. Additionally, during the same time period, fixed costs increased in terms of actual dollars, from approximately $5.34 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $9.93 billion in fiscal year 2020.
The $4.59 billion increase represents a 86 percent growth in Connecticut's fixed costs. In comparison, Connecticut's total General Fund expenditures (including fixed costs) increased 26.6 percent from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2020 — nearly a third of the increase of fixed costs.
As the State's fixed costs are increasing, the amount of money available for the discretionary — or non-fixed — portion of Connecticut's General Fund is shrinking. For example, from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2020, Connecticut's total General Fund discretionary spending, or non-fixed costs, decreased by $560 million.
Outside of fixed costs, Connecticut's largest General Fund expenditure category is education, museums, and libraries, which accounts for approximately $3.82 billion (19.9 percent) of annual General Fund expenditures. This includes the Education Cost Sharing grant, which is the largest single, non-fixed line item in the General Fund at approximately $2 billion in fiscal year 2020.
