Report: Stewart raided city health care fund to pay graduate school tuition.

More disappointing news on the Erin Stewart front. The Hartford Courant’s Ed Mahony reports that Erin Stewart, the former mayor of New Britain, used money from a city health benefits fund to pay her tuition for the University of New Haven Masters of Public Administration program in 2021 and 2022.

The city reimbursed Stewart $31,564 with money “drawn on an a city account created to make payments in lieu of medical benefits to city employees who choose not to participate in the city’s health insurance coverage.”

Stewart drew others into the unusual arrangement, including the head of the Republican-controlled city council, though he had no authority to authorize the payments.

The payments to Stewart appear to violate the state constitution’s prohibition on changing an elected official’s compensation during his or her term. New Britain’s council sets the pay of the mayor and other elected officials at the start of a term for the following term. That tradition caused Stewart some trouble when the council proposed increasing the mayor’s by 13%, to $99,000 a year. A previous proposal would have raised her salary by 23%. That was withdrawn in the face of public opposition.

Stewart suspended her campaign for the Republican nomination for governor last month, several days after The Courant reported on her prolific use of a city credit card for what appeared to be more than $200,000 in personal purchases.

Published June 2, 2026.