Pay cut for state employees?

So Legislators are having such a hard time balancing the state’s budget, they’ve decided that a 5%-10% pay cut for state employees might be in order. Let’s not forget that state workers have not had a pay raise in 3 years. Coupled with inflation and rising prices for just about everything, many state workers are barely making it. Senator J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven, says he’s comfortable with a 5% cut. I wonder how many state employees feel the same.

When considering the pay cut, though, you have to remember that “state employee” encompasses many more than just those who work for state agencies. It also includes all public university and college Presidents, professors, and coaching staff. That’s right…Bobby Bowden and Urban Meyer are state employees, too. It also includes those who work for state Committees, Commissions, and other organizations. And it includes the Governor and our Legislators. We’ll see if these folks are included in the cuts.

Just last year the same Florida Legislature awarded Florida Highway Patrol troopers a 6% pay raise while trying to fix a $5 billion deficit. Guess that wasn’t such a good idea, so they’ll have to take that back. Also last year Legislators voted to reduce their pay by 5% (don’t clap yet…they voted for pay raises for themselves, too), so back-to-back cuts will really hurt. And while they have restricted travel, they have not looked at Governor OptiCrist’s half-mil European Tour or Lt. Governor Kottkamp’s personal use of a state plane to commute between his home and Tallahassee. That’s another half-mil. In a $6 billion deficit, that’s not much. But it’s an ethical start.

We don’t have a budget problem…we have a spending problem. My parents taught me not to spend on things I couldn’t afford. Legislators need to remember the money they spend is not theirs…it’s the taxpayers’. We need to remind them of that.