Connecticut interim ombudsman urges larger budget, cites 350-case backlog and legislative priorities

Devon Ward, the interim ombudsman for the Connecticut Office of the Ombudsman, told the advisory committee on Feb. 18 that the office’s website and complaint intake form are live at ct.gov and that a state-approved job posting for an office assistant should publish within “the next week or 2.”

Ward said he has requested a larger appropriation for the office after the governor’s proposed budget kept the office at the current $400,000. “The governor’s recommended budget . . . flat funds the office at $400,000, which as we all know is kind of unacceptably low,” Tygh Dooley, one of the committee co-chairs, told the meeting while introducing the budget discussion. Ward said he initially sought “somewhere north of a million dollars” but, after talks with appropriations leaders, judged a request for about $800,000 more politically realistic.

Ward described how an $800,000 appropriation would be used if approved: hiring two office assistants, two associate ombuds, two investigators, one staff attorney and one medical consultant, and buying a file-management system to help triage incoming complaints. He warned the current personnel-service-only structure in the biennial budget constrains what can be spent on non-personnel items before a revised budget takes effect in July.

The interim ombudsman raised specific legislative priorities and…