Senate Appropriations Chairman Announces Pay Raise Plan for State Employees

Sen. Hobson and Sen. Morgan discuss the Senate's two-phase plan to raise state employee's pay and the general appropriations bill.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Mike Morgan Tuesday announced a plan to give state employees a long-overdue, two-phase pay raise.

Morgan said the Senate measure would give state workers a 5-percent pay raise beginning January 1, 2005, and then an additional 3-percent raise beginning July 1, 2005.

State employees last received a pay increase in 2000.

“Our state employees have gone too long without a raise. These men and women provide critical state services to the people of Oklahoma. In recent years, as agency budgets have been slashed, they’ve been asked to do more with less – all the time without getting even a cost of living increase in their paychecks.

It’s time we rewarded our employees for the outstanding work they do for our state,” said Morgan, D-Stillwater.

The average state worker, including classified and non-classified employees, currently earns $33,076 per year. The average employee will see an increase of $1,654 per year effective Jan. 1, 2005, and an additional $1,042 effective July 1, 2005.

The net effect of both pay raises will push the annual average salary from $33,076 to $35,772 by July 1, 2005.

Funding for the 5-percent pay increase is included in the Senate version of a general appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2005, Morgan said. House members approved HB 2007 by a 79-18 vote February 24. Senators are scheduled to consider the floor substitute for House Bill 2007 Wednesday.

Cost of the first phase of the employee pay plan is approximately $24.6 million. When fully implemented for FY 2006, the pay plan will cost approximately $78.8 million annually.

The Oklahoma Constitution allows funding for pay increases to be included in a general appropriations bill. The language specifying the raises for most state employees, however, will be included in Senate amendments to House Bill 2005.

Morgan said the full Senate could consider the pay raise measure as early as Thursday.

Funding for a raise for Highway Patrol troopers is also included in the general appropriations bill, but the specifics of the trooper pay increase plan are included in Senate Bill 1137, authored by Senator
Kenneth Corn. The bill compresses the current 14-step pay plan into seven steps at a cost of $3.1 million.

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