Meet Comptroller Scanlon
Sean Scanlon began his term as Comptroller in 2023, succeeding Natalie Braswell.
The son of a police officer and small business owner, Sean attended Guilford public schools and worked his way through high school and Boston College. After graduating, Sean returned to Connecticut with the goal of helping others. He began working as an aide for U.S. Senator Chris Murphy where he helped the Senator fight for gun safety and better health care, as well as addressing constituent concerns. In Guilford, he worked with neighbors to organize successful grassroots campaigns to build a new high school and institute a full-day kindergarten.
In 2014, Sean was elected State Representative for Connecticut’s 98th District. In the House, Sean became a champion for health care reform, a passion rooted in his own life experiences coming from a family that was often uninsured or underinsured.
As chairman of the legislature’s Insurance Committee, Sean wrote and passed legislation protecting people with pre-existing conditions from insurance discrimination, established the lowest monthly co-pay cap for insulin in the nation at $25, prevented insurance companies from covering mental health differently than physical health, required health insurance plans to cover ten “Essential Health Benefits,” and created Connecticut’s first prescription drug price transparency law.
During his fourth and final term, Sean served as Chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding committee where he led the fight to create tax relief for working families like the one he grew up in and worked with Governor Lamont to pass the largest tax cut in state history.
Outside of the legislature, Sean previously served as Executive Director of Tweed-New Haven Airport, where he secured a $100 million public-private investment deal, brought in a new air carrier, and created over 100 new community jobs.
Sean lives in Guilford with his wife Meghan, who is the President & CEO of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, their two young sons Jack and Declan.
About the Office of the State Comptroller
Office of the State Comptroller
Sean Scanlon, State Comptroller
Tara Downes, Deputy Comptroller
Established – 1786
Statutory authority – State Constitution
Central office – 165 Capitol Avenue,
Hartford, CT 06106-1775
Average number of full-time employees – 256
Recurring operating expenses – $24,190,877
Mission
To provide accounting and financial services, to administer employee and
retiree benefits, to develop accounting policy and exercise accounting
oversight, and to prepare financial reports for state, federal and
municipal governments and the public.
Statutory Responsibility
The responsibilities of the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) were
first charged in the State Constitution in 1786, and have been expanded
over the years in the Connecticut General Statutes. According to Article
Fourth, Section 24 of the State Constitution, the State Comptroller
“shall adjust and settle all public accounts and demands, except grants
and orders of the general assembly. He shall prescribe the mode of
keeping and rendering all public accounts.”
In addition, state law charges the office to adjust and/or settle all demands against the state not first adjusted and settled by the General Assembly; to prepare all accounting statements relating to the financial condition of the state; to provide for the budgetary and financial reporting needs of the executive branch through the Core-CT computerized system; to pay all wages and salaries of state employees; and to administer miscellaneous appropriations including the procurement of medical, dental and pharmacy benefits.
The bulk of the Comptroller’s statutory requirements are detailed in CGS Secs. 3-111 through 3-123.
The office is organized by six divisions:
Central Accounts Payable Division
The Central Accounts Payable Division manages the centralized accounts payable
function for the state, maintains a database of more than 126,000
records on state vendor profiles, initiates and monitors the process for
paying and settling the state’s obligations, examines state encumbrances
and expenditures for compliance, conducts pre-audits of procurement
requests for $1 million or more, and addresses a variety of necessary
federal and state requirements and Freedom of Information requests.
The division processes special payments such as tax-exempt bond funds,
debt service, state legal settlements, land condemnations, human
resource benefits, federal pass-through and state grants. These payments
are processed through various methods such as checks, Automated Clearing
House (ACH, also known as electronic funds transfer or EFT), wire
transfers, and inter-agency transfers.
The division enforces the statutory, regulatory and accounting provisions mandated by state and federal law and by the comptroller’s policies; facilitates the execution of state grant programs for payment to municipalities and/or non-profit organizations; produces reports of payments to municipalities and provides assistance to municipalities’ independent auditors in the reconciliation of such payments; maintains financial records, including garnishments/offsets through the vendor file database within the state’s Core-CT administrative and financial system; assists agencies in processing transactions and troubleshooting problems with such transactions in Core-CT; develops manuals and provides training to other state agencies’ business office staff; processes and distributes forms for certain vendors, grantees and the Internal Revenue Service.
Budget and Financial Analysis Division
The Budget and Financial Analysis Division performs the state’s accounting and financial reporting functions and develops and executes the agency budget. The division is responsible for posting, analyzing and reporting state expenditures and receipts by fund and account category inclusive of federal and other funding sources.
The division computes and reports direct and indirect costs associated with major state programs. This cost data is recorded and maintained in accordance with federal law and is used to secure reimbursements from federal and other funding sources. At the comptroller’s direction, the division prepares a monthly analysis of the state’s budget condition that contains the financial statements for the latest month and projections for the budget position to year’s end.
The division publishes two of the comptroller’s annual financial reports — a budgetary base (modified cash basis of accounting) report that details and analyzes state expenditures, receipts, and capital budget activities for the fiscal year; and an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that analyzes the state’s overall fiscal position and provides audited financial statements for state and state-supported fiscal activities.
Healthcare Policy & Benefit Services Division
The Healthcare Policy & Benefit Services Division administers benefits
programs for all state employees, retirees, and their families. The
largest programs are the medical, pharmacy, and dental benefit programs
covering over 200,000 lives. The division is responsible for the
contract procurement, administration, and evaluation of these programs.
The division provides administrative support to the Healthcare Cost Containment Committee, as well as substantive updates on the patient-centered medical home initiative, eligibility for and enrollment in the state employee and retiree health plan, and rates and utilization issues.
In 2010, the division implemented a new prescription purchasing initiative that could save municipal and state taxpayers millions of dollars. The Connecticut Prescription Partnership is a strictly voluntary partnership that permits towns and cities to join the state’s self-insured pharmacy benefit program and achieve significant savings by purchasing drugs through the state.
The division is working on new and expanded opportunities for municipalities and non-profits to procure health care in coordination with the state, potentially saving significant dollars and resources.
The division is also responsible for administrating the State of Connecticut Defined Contribution Plans, including oversight of investments which are currently in excess of $3.2 billion.
The division also coordinates group life insurance, unemployment insurance and supplemental benefits for state employees.
Information Technology Division
The Information Technology Division is an inter-agency team that
supports and helps maintain Core-CT, the statewide financial, human
resource, and payroll system. Core-CT performs the state’s accounting,
accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing, billing, project
management, human resource, time and attendance, payroll, and benefits
administration functions and is used by well over 10,000 state
employees. In total there are approximately 50 employees of the Office
of the State Comptroller who work full time on supporting the system’s
operation.
The division is responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of Core-CT, and provides analysis for the comptroller regarding strategic information technology issues impacting the state.
The division’s Technology Support Unit develops and maintains the comptroller’s technical infrastructure, including local area network (LAN) planning, personal computer (PC) installation and troubleshooting, training in desktop software applications, help desk support for all PC users, and development of custom PC/LAN applications and is responsible for web development and maintenance for the comptroller’s Intranet and Internet web sites.
Statewide Payroll & Time Management Division
The Statewide Payroll & Time Management Division pays all state employees and retirees; coordinates all payroll deductions; maintains records on payroll taxes; and deposits federal and state income tax withholding and social security contributions. It pre-audits and issues state employee and deduction checks on a bi-weekly basis; submits deduction reports; maintains wage execution records, and administers direct deposit programs.
The payroll system accommodates unique state payroll requirements including interfaces with central agencies, mass salary changes, collective bargaining information, complex accounting transactions and extensive management reporting.
The division implemented ePay, an initiative to transition the state to a paperless payroll system that has saved significant state resources.
The division staff also produces information requests for state employees, state agencies, outside organizations, and the general public, including the media.
Retirement Services Division
The Retirement Services Division administers state pension plans serving more than 40,000 state retirees.
In providing oversight and management of the state pension plans, the division performs a comprehensive package of services including retirement counseling and administrative support to the Connecticut State Employees Retirement Commission.
It receives and processes retirement applications from state agencies, and it manages computer, accounting, investigatory, payroll, training, record-keeping, and compliance activities related to the state’s complex retirement programs.
The division analyzes and implements ever-changing statutory, collectively bargained, and federally mandated revisions to the pension plans within its jurisdiction. It plans, researches and develops new products based on retirement conditions and trends.