During Jerry Brown’s first term as governor of California, he advocated a raise for state employees in which every employee would get the same dollar amount, no matter what the level. As you can imagine, people at the upper levels were furious.
The problem with percentage raises is that the rich get richer. For example, say a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice makes $200,000 a year and janitor who cleans the judicial chambers makes $40,000. If you give them each a 1% raise, the Justice receives $2000 and the janitor $400. And if you think the Justice works harder, you’ve never been a janitor.
So what is policy in Pennsylvania? The state gives a percentage raise based on increases in the Consumer Price Index. Our legislators, the second highest paid in the nation, will get an increase of about $700. That will give them an annual income of almost $87,200, and that is base pay.
The leadership, like Mike Turzai(R-Allegheny), receives about $136,000. This is a leader who is clueless about what the citizens of Pennsylvania need, and he’s getting a raise. In fact, the Republican majority in both houses has a dismal record this session, but they will all get raises.
Did I mention the per diem?
Figures are taken from Marc Levy, “State officials to get pay raise in 2018,” Morning Call (Nov. 29, 2017), p. 7.
Are these the clowns that can't pass a balanced budget on time?
ReplyDeleteI think these are the same clowns that were in the horror movie "It."
ReplyDelete