Decision on raises for state workers to be decided later
By PATRICK JACKSON
Dover Bureau reporter
05/21/2003
Lawmakers on Tuesday began reworking Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's proposed $2.4 billion budget, but said tough decisions on state employee salaries likely will wait until June.
Sen. Nancy Cook, D-Kenton, said the only state workers to see a raise now are those with pay increases written in their contracts.
That could change, however, if the state sees significant new money in the budget when the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council meets June 16 to set its last revenue estimate before the July 1 deadline for approving the operating budget.
Depending on how swiftly lawmakers act, that decision also could hinge on what happens with Minner's request to increase taxes and fees by $144.5 million to help ease a $255 million structural problem in the budget. Debate on that package is expected when lawmakers return to Dover in two weeks.
Cook said she was pleased with the progress the Joint Finance Committee is making on the budget, which for the most part is sticking close to Minner's January recommendations. Agencies getting budget approval Tuesday included the departments of Labor, Administrative Services and Finance as well as the Delaware Technical & Community College system, Delaware State University and the University of Delaware.
Lawmakers added $500,000 to the Department of Correction's $189.3 million budget for inmate medical care and $200,000 to the Finance Department's $17.2 million budget for technology issues.
The committee also approved the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's $35.5 million budget and gave it permission to spend up to $7.9 million of a $20 million special fund used for environmental cleanup. That's $4 million higher than the amount Minner recommended in January.
Money from the fund is being used to clean up sites including the Metachem plant near Delaware City, General Chemical Co. in Claymont and former tannery sites in Wilmington.
Deputy DNREC Secretary David Small said he was pleased the committee approved the change, which the agency had requested.
"We were looking at bumping into [spending] ceilings," Small said. "We needed that to do work, so we're glad we got the authorization."
Reach Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com.
