By Joe Rogalsky
Delaware State News
DOVER — Most state workers will see their paychecks grow 4.5 percent to 10 percent under a plan the legislature's budget-writing committee approved Monday afternoon.
The $47.7 million proposal would give employees a 2 percent raise or $1,100, whichever is greater, on July 1.
Workers employed as of Jan. 1 also would see an increase equal to 3 percent of the middle of their salary range.
Instead of getting the full 3 percent, employees already near the top of their pay range would get another 1.5 percent of the middle of their salary scale or an amount that would put them at the top of their pay grade, whichever is greater.
The Joint Finance Committee signed off on the plan Monday, its first day of work on the state's fiscal 2006 operating budget.
Though the General Assembly needs to approve the operating budget before the raises can take effect, the legislature usually does not overrule the money panel.
Employees earning the lowest salary in state government, $16,509, would see their pay go up 10 percent to $18,008 a year.
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and the JFC have expressed interest many times in doing more to improve pay for lower-earning employees.
Workers making the $21,940-a-year entry-level salary in pay grade 6, which has the most employees of the state's 26 salary levels, would get an 8.8 percent increase to $23,599.
Those at the upper end of the state's pay structure would have their salaries increase 4.5 to 5 percent.
Rep. Joseph W. DiPinto, R-Wilmington, the committee's co-chair, said a recent market study found that Delaware paid its state workers about 9 percent less than surrounding states.
Those findings and the desire to improve the bottom of the salary scale, he said, guided the panel's actions.
Increasing workers' pay by 3 percent of the middle of their pay range allows employees to move through their pay grades. Such an increase has only been granted four times since 1987.
"It is to reflect the quality of their work and longevity," Rep. DiPinto said.
"We think it's fair. We think this addresses the core principles we were trying to follow."
The JFC's plan costs $15.9 million more than what Gov. Minner proposed in January. The governor's proposal called for 2 percent raises July 1 and 2 percent of the middle of the salary range Jan. 1.
Historically, the JFC has always increased the governor's pay recommendations.
"We are very supportive of the pay proposal that rewards our entry-level state employees," said Jennifer W. Davis, the governor's budget director.
Rep. DiPinto said the top-level state employees who received raises in February through the Delaware Compensation Commission would not get additional increases through the operating budget.
Statewide elected officials except for Gov. Minner, the legislature, Cabinet secretaries and the judiciary received raises ranging from 9 to 20 percent based on the commission's recommendations.
The committee will consider additional pay increases for the state's correctional officers when it takes up the Department of Correction budget later this week or next week.
Correctional officer salary and staffing issues have received much attention following a July 12 incident at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna when a prison counselor was held hostage for nearly seven hours and raped.
Gov. Minner included money to give every officer a $600-a-year increase in hazardous duty pay plus funding for additional salary enhancements as determined by the JFC.
"What we did today will be their base," said Sen. Nancy W. Cook, D-Kenton, a JFC co-chair.
"We have a lot of other proposals for them we need to look at."
The JFC's pay plan does not cover all employees. Public school teachers and administrators, for example, would receive a 2 percent pay raise plus any previously scheduled increases for longevity or other accomplishments.
All other education employees — secretaries, custodians, aides and food workers — would receive $650 a year raises.
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky can be reached at 741-8226 or jrogalsky@newszap.com.
Reprinted with permission from newszap.com www.newszap.com
