Comptroller's Cupboard Not Bare

Remember the state employee pay raise the Lege passed last session? Well, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, because State Comptroller Susan Combs has worked out that there’s actually the money to pay for it.

Today, Combs has said her office has finally certified the 2008-09 Biennial Revenue Estimate, confirming the budget estimate. This means the people she glowingly called “one of Texas’ most valuable resources” will get their 4% wage hike. Only it’s not really 4%, and it’s not all in one go. Instead, it’s 2% this September, 2% in September 2008, which actually works out at 4.04% by the end of the biennium, but only 2% for the first year. Which means the pay for those “valuable resources” will not even keep track with inflation estimates.

The sum is also short of what unions had hoped for. The Texas Public Employees Association had asked for 2.5% per annum over the biennium, with a minimum raise of $75 a month. The Texas State Employees Union was lobbying for a more dramatic 8% in 2008 and 7.5% in 2009. They argued this would bring pay back to traditional levels, putting the average state employee on $41,800 pre-tax income for 2009. As is, the approved pay raise would put that average employee at $36,720 in 2008 and $37,454 in 2009.