MEMORANDUM NO. 2017-10 REVISED

August 7, 2017

TO THE HEADS OF ALL STATE AGENCIES

This memorandum supersedes Comptroller?s Memorandum No. 2017-10, dated July 1, 2017.

The percentage rates for unemployment compensation and the various retirement plans listed on the attached chart are effective July 1, 2017. These rates should be used for any fringe benefit cost recovery taking place on or after July 1, 2017. In 2017-2018, as in the previous fiscal year, there will be no composite rates encompassing all fringe benefit components.

Revised Retirement Rates Based on SEBAC 2017 Changes
Due to the adoption of the SEBAC 2017 agreement by State employee union members and the Connecticut General Assembly, three retirement rates have been revised to reflect savings included in the agreement. Updated fringe benefit rates have been calculated for SERS Regular, SERS Hazardous Duty and the Alternative Retirement Program (ARP). The other percentage fringe benefit rates for FY 2017-18 have not been revised since the costs of these benefits were not changed by the SEBAC 2017 agreement. The updated rates will be entered into the Core-CT system for the check dated August 18, 2017 and will be used for the balance of the fiscal year.

In the near future, the Office of the State Comptroller will make journal corrections to adjust earlier fringe benefit charges for SERS Regular, SERS Hazardous Duty and ARP dating back to July 1, 2017.

Actual Cost Fringe Benefits
Since November 2003, with the implementation of the Core-CT HRMS module, the state shares of certain fringe benefits have been charged to agencies on an actual cost basis. This includes group life insurance and medical insurance, which are calculated based on the actual cost of the state's share of insurance premiums. In addition, FICA-Social Security and FICA-Medicare have been calculated based on the existing Federal tax rates instead of the percentage rate developed in the past by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC). The actual cost method will continue to be used in Fiscal Year 2017-18.

Fringe Benefit Recovery
All personal service expenditures from Federal and includes Grants and any funds other than the General Fund and Correction Industries Fund are subject to fringe benefit recovery.

Fringe Benefits and Overtime Salaries
It has been the State of Connecticut's longstanding policy to distribute a proportional amount of all fringe benefits with overtime salaries. These fringe benefits include group life insurance, medical insurance, unemployment compensation, FICA-Social Security, FICA-Medicare and the applicable retirement plan in which the employee is enrolled. For overtime charged directly through payroll, the applicable fringe benefit rates and Federal tax rates for FICA and Medicare will be applied. In addition, a proportional amount of the employer-share group life and medical insurance will be distributed with the overtime salary based on the employee's coverage. Please note - additional group life and medical premiums are not generated or charged with overtime. Rather a proportional amount of the total actual employer-share premium is distributed to the funding source where the overtime salary is charged. Journal transfers of overtime salaries and associated fringe benefit adjustments should follow this approach.

Charging Employees to the Correct Funding Source
In Core-CT, fringe benefits are charged to the same funding source as the personal services expenditure. If an employee is paid from the correct funding source, Core-CT will charge the actual cost of fringe benefits to the proper funding source. Therefore, coordination is needed between agency payroll and financial staff to ensure every effort is made to pay employees from the correct funding sources.

Salary and Fringe Benefit Payroll Corrections
If an agency pays an employee from the wrong funding source, fringe benefits will be charged to the wrong funding source as well. For corrections, the agency will be responsible for identifying the salary amounts and fringe benefit amounts that need to be transferred.

Salaries can be transferred through spreadsheet journals using the source code of PC, although there are limitations to this approach. In addition, when the salary transfer is between a reimbursable funding source and a non-reimbursable source (e.g., a Grant Fund SID and the General Fund), the agency will need to submit a CO-826 form to identify the fringe benefit amounts to be transferred by fringe benefit account.

Completed electronic copies of CO-826 forms should be sent by e-mail to the following mailbox for processing: Osc.CO-826@ct.gov.  Alternatively, forms may be faxed to (860) 702-3441 or mailed to Office of the State Comptroller, Administrative Services Division, 55 Elm Street, 2nd Floor, Hartford, CT 06106.

The Impact of Payroll Corrections on Financial Reporting
It should be noted that spreadsheet journal transfers of salary and fringe benefits in the Core-CT financials module are not reflected in the HRMS system or in the payroll tables in EPM. Therefore, if using HRMS for reporting purposes, agencies must track the corrections they make through spreadsheet journals and the use of CO-826 forms.

Fringe Benefit Variances - New Requests Required
All variances approved in Fiscal Year 2016-17 or earlier will be deleted for check date August 18, 2017. Variances for Fiscal Year 2017-18 will require a new request.

Full and Partial Fringe Benefit Variances
In most cases, full fringe benefit variances can be accommodated in Core-CT through the use of fringe benefit allocations that run when payrolls are posted. Fully exempted fringe benefit expenditures will be transferred to the appropriate OSC central appropriation.

For partial variances, Core-CT will charge the funding source the full amount for fringe benefits. Agencies with approved partial variances should submit CO-826 forms to recover the portion of fringe benefits that have been exempted.

Deposits to Fund 34005 - Fringe Benefit Recovery Fund
In certain situations, state agencies bill another state agency, municipality or includes firm for services provided by an employee. The bill can include both salary and fringe benefit costs to be reimbursed.

Payments for the fringe benefit portion should be deposited or applied to the following coding:

In addition, the agency should use its own Department ID, Program and Project values.

Alerting OSC of the Fund 34005 Deposit Using the CO-826 Form
Once a fringe benefit recovery payment is deposited or applied to Fund 34005, the agency should alert the Office of the State Comptroller using a CO-826 Reimbursable Cost Recovery Form. This allows OSC to credit the recovery to the proper central fringe benefit appropriations. A sample CO-826 form for Fund 34005 fringe benefit recovery deposits is available as a General Ledger job aid on the Core-CT website at http://www.core-ct.state.ct.us/user/finjobaids/gl.htm. 

If there are questions, please call the Cost Reporting Unit of the Budget and Financial Analysis Division at (860) 702-3352.

KEVIN LEMBO
STATE COMPTROLLER

KL: REG

Actual Cost Fringe Benefits

Percentage Rate Fringe Benefits

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