State Employees Won’t Get Raise

Legislative budget writers on Thursday slammed the door on the last dim hope 16,000 state employees had of getting a modest pay increase during the 1998 budget year.

The committee voted 12-7 against authorizing Gov. Phil Batt’s 2 percent pay increase if the state tax system generates more than the $1.37 billion needed to balance the 1997 budget.

Supporters of the so-called surplus eliminator approach admitted it was a long shot. But they argued that if the cash comes in, there is no reason state workers should be stiffed as they were three of four years during the budget crises of the 1980s.