California Assembly employees given 6 percent pay raises

The Sacramento Bee reports:

In time for the holidays, Assembly employees are getting a fatter paycheck.

"I didn't have to read the memo to know it came through – I heard cheers outside my office," said Dan Reeves, chief of staff to Assemblyman Kevin De León, D-Los Angeles.

The Assembly Rules Committee approved an across-the-board, 6 percent salary hike, effective Nov. 1, for the nearly 1,200 employees who serve the 80-member lower house.

For the Assembly's highest-paid employee, Dan Eaton, chief of staff to Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, the raise will pad his $200,000 annual salary by $12,000. His pay has risen $42,000 in two years.

The Assembly had not granted an across-the-board pay hike since 2000, but employees periodically have received merit salary increases.

Besides Monday's salary vote, the Assembly agreed to temporarily pick up a larger portion of employees' pension costs.

Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, a South Gate Democrat who chairs the Rules Committee, said taxpayers will get their money's worth.

"You reduce turnover," De La Torre said of the impacts. "The expectation is that you don't have as many people learning on the job and you have better efficiency."

But Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said a pay hike sends the wrong message when a multibillion-dollar budget deficit is looming.

"I think this may be an example of Nero fiddling while Rome burns," Coupal said. "I'm not sure this move sends a signal that our elected leaders are being fiscally responsible."

The pay hike apparently was planned in this year's state budget. The Assembly received a $7.2 million increase, including $6.7 million for additional staff salaries.

Monday's vote to pick up a larger portion of staffers' pension costs was for a temporary period, less than a year.

Assembly employees are required to pay pension costs totaling 5 percent of their gross monthly earnings above $513.

Your tax increase is their pay raise.