PHOTOS: 2024 Election in Connecticut

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This is the 14th year employee survey company Energage has partnered with The Courant to identify outstanding workplaces in the Greater Hartford area.

After more than 20 years and plenty of voter complaints, lawmakers voted for the raises in 2022 for increases that took effect last year for the first time in two decades.

For years, legislators were afraid to vote on hiking their pay due to possible political criticism by their opponents — even though the increase would be futuristic and only awarded to the winners after the November elections.

The impetus for the increase came from opening-day speeches in February 2022 by two retiring legislators — Democratic Rep. Joe de la Cruz of Groton and Republican David Wilson of Litchfield — who inspired lawmakers to consider a raise that would be adjusted every two years for inflation.

Both lawmakers said that the legislature could recruit better candidates by increasing the annual base salary of $28,000 per year that had been stuck at the same level since 2001. The base pay is now $40,000 per year.

Future increases will be made automatically in the same way that inflation increases Social Security benefits on an annual basis. For legislators, the increases will be adjusted every two years — after the two-year term expires.

Besides the base salary, many lawmakers receive additional money for various leadership and committee positions, as well as unvouchered expenses and mileage reimbursements for driving to Hartford.

House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford and Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney of New Haven are the two highest-paid lawmakers at $52,000 per year. They both also hold other jobs as private attorneys. But their fulltime chiefs of staff both are paid more than $200,000 each, according to public records.

See all staff salaries here.

Members of the U.S. Congress, by contrast, receive an annual salary of $174,000 per year, plus benefits and various perks that include everything from travel to use of the Congressional gym that comes complete with a swimming pool and sauna.

Beyond pay, legislators receive a state-paid medical benefits package that is far less expensive than the premiums and co-pays paid by many of their constituents. Newer lawmakers also do not have the same generous pension benefits as their older colleagues because of agreements reached by the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com 

This information was obtained from the state of Connecticut:

Read our complete election coverage.

This is the 13th year employee survey company Energage has partnered with The Courant to identify outstanding workplaces in the Greater Hartford area.

Redevelopment in Hartford after the pandemic

As Hartford emerges from a bruising pandemic, redevelopment in the city — a strong force behind revitalization prior to Covid — is again showing early signs of momentum. Here are two dozen projects across the city that have the potential to make a difference. Click on projects to learn more about them and when they might be completed.

Don’t see a project that you are curious about? Email Staff Writer Kenneth R. Gosselin at kgosselin@courant.com, and he will check into it for you. This feature will be regularly updated.