House OKs bill giving raise to state workers

BOISE – A bill to give Idaho state employees a 3 percent merit-based pay increase by Feb. 1 passed the House of Representatives 60-2 on Monday.

The bill, passed unanimously by the Senate last week, gives state employees the raise Gov. Dirk Kempthorne pushed for during his State of the State address on Jan. 9.

“Because we often leave to the last the question of salary increases for state employees, I think it’s time to demonstrate their value to us by making it the first item we address,” Kempthorne said.

The governor will sign the bill as soon as he can, spokesman Mike Journee said.

Kempthorne’s rush to implement the raises was part of the reason Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, voted against the bill.

“It’s not a good way to budget,” Barrett said. “It’s basically a retroactive situation: ‘You don’t like what we did last year? Well, get in there and muck it up.’ “

Barrett said she is not opposed to the raises but thinks they should be included in the 2007 budget rather than tacked on to the 2006 budget as a supplemental appropriation.

“Some (supplemental appropriations) you can justify because you don’t know how many fires you’re going to have to fight,” Barrett said.

“But for the most part, you budget for an agency, then they should live within that budget until the new budget is on the radar screen.”

Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, also voted against the bill.

The permanent raises are expected to cost the state more than $6.9 million in general funds between now and July 1.

The wage increase affects all state employees except judges, elected officials, commission members and public school employees.

Kempthorne’s budget proposal calls for increasing teachers’ starting salaries to $30,000 from $27,500.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee will hear that proposal Thursday when it holds a hearing on the public schools budget.