State proposes $46.7 million pay overhaul
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
State and legislative staff members on Tuesday proposed an overhaul of the pay plan that covers about 35, 000 of the state’s employees. It would cost $ 46. 7 million.
The current payroll for these employees is $ 1. 2 billion a year, an official said.
The overhaul’s aims are to boost entry-level salaries, make sure new hires don’t make more than other employees in the same jobs and reward long-term employees, said Andrew Bass, personnel review administrator for the Bureau of Legislative Research.
In December 2006, lawmakers gave a cool reception to a more expensive plan proposed by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee’s administration. That one could have increased costs $ 120 million to $ 170 million, depending on options chosen.
Last August, Gov. Mike Beebe and members of the Legislative Council’s Personnel Subcommittee agreed to devise a new plan. They cited high turnover at entry and midlevel positions.
State Sen. Steve Faris, DCentral, co-chairman of the personnel subcommittee, said officials “pared this down to a bare minimum” so the state would be able to implement it in the next biennium and improve it later.
About a month ago the Department of Finance and Administration cut the proposed general revenue budget for fiscal 2009 nearly $ 107 million. That set the projected budget at $ 4. 4 billion. Of the $ 46. 7 million needed for the pay plan increase, about $ 20 million would come from general revenue, which is derived mostly from sales and income taxes.
Beebe feels strongly that state employees at the lower end of the pay scale need to make enough money to support themselves and their families, said Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample.
This overhaul “is going to be contingent on” how the state is doing financially and must take its place “along with many other state initiatives” when the Legislature convenes next year, he said.
“Not everybody is going to be happy,” Bass said. “Not everyone is going to get the raise they want.” Kay Durnett, executive director of the Arkansas State Employees Association, praised the proposal.
It appears to have a good balance between newly hired employees and long-term employees, she said.
“I’m real eager to see more because the devil is going to be in the details,” Durnett said.
Kay Barnhill-Terry, administrator of the state’s Office of Personnel Management, said a proposed classification plan — linking job titles to pay grades — still is in the works and will be distributed to state agencies later this month.
The pay plan was last overhauled in 1989.
The current plan has 26 pay grades, each with seven pay levels, and ranges from $ 13, 243 to $ 83, 708 a year. The plan covers “classified” positions at state agencies and at the state’s higher-education institutions. A classified position is part of a class of employees, such as accountants or administrative assistants, in the current plan. “Unclassified” positions’ salaries are set by the Legislature in a specific item in agency budgets, said Tim Leathers, deputy director for the Department of Finance and Administration.
Besides those at the highereducation institutions, the state has 25, 844 classified employees. Their average annual salary is $ 33, 889. The state has 1, 194 unclassified employees with an average salary of $ 69, 388 at agencies other than higher-education institutions, said Barnhill-Terry. Higher-education institutions have more than 7, 000 classified employees, she said. Each school runs its own payroll.
Bass said the proposed overhaul consists of two plans. One is called a career service pay plan and is for mostly classified employees and lower-paid unclassified employees, he said. This plan consists of 30 pay grades with entry, base, midpoint, maximum and career levels, he said. The pay ranges from $ 15, 080 to $ 96, 212 a year. The minimum reflects the $ 7. 25 federal minimum wage in July 2009, he said.
The other is called the professional and executive pay plan and includes employees with line-item salaries in agency budgets such as division directors, doctors and chief counsels, Bass said. It consists of 22 pay grades with base, midpoint and maximum levels with annual salaries ranging from $ 65, 000 to $ 225, 655.
Barnhill-Terry said the proposal would increase the pay grade range for accountants from $ 26, 415- $ 50, 570 to $ 30, 713-$ 52, 167 with a career rate of $ 56, 430.
The projected annual payroll for the 54, 000 employees at all state agencies and the highereducation institutions is $ 3. 8 billion, said Mike Stormes, the state’s budget administrator.
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