OK, it's not a pay raise because they are not allowed to vote themselves a pay raise. But this seems like a way to sneak around that problem. It's a $10,400 cost of living increase.
Currently they are paid $24,000 for a part time job that only lasts 100 day a year. That pay would be $87,600 a year if the job lasted a full year. So year are certainly not paid poorly. If you add their the proposed per diem pay of $16,400 to their part time salary of $24,000 that gives them $40,400 for a part time 100 day job. If the job were a full time job their effective pay would be $147,460. For these so called "public servants" to claim they are underpaid is a bunch of rubbish. They are paid very, very, well for a part time 100 day a year job. Arizona Capitol likes pay hike for lodging By Mary Jo Pitzl The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Feb 4, 2013 10:43 PM State lawmakers are getting on board a bill that would nearly triple their per diem pay, saying the costs of maintaining a residence in the capital city outstrip the money they receive for such expenses. The proposal, expected to be filed later this week with bipartisan support, comes as GOP leaders in the Legislature are cautioning against increased spending. The measure would establish the per diem, or subsistence rate, at $164 a day for lawmakers living outside a 50-mile radius of the Capitol and $97 for those within 50 miles. Those figures are more than a 170 percent increase over the current rates. The increases would mean, in a hypothetical 100-day session, a lawmaker from Pima County would collect $16,400 to cover food and lodging, compared with the $6,000 now available. In the Phoenix area, it would pencil out to $9,700 for “subsistence” from the current $3,500. The bill also would increase the mileage rate 25 percent, to 55 cents from 44 cents. The bill does not touch the legislative salary of $24,000 a year. Only voters can increase that, and the last time they were asked, in 2008, they rejected the idea with 64 percent of the vote. Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, one of the sponsors of the yet-to-be-filed bill, said he believes there’s a strong case for the measure. It’s pricey to rent an apartment or house for the typical four-month session, he said. “It is a hardship, and it’s been 28 years since it (the per diem) was raised,” Wheeler said. He just finished signing a six-month apartment lease that he said works out to $1,000 a month, plus utilities. On top of that, he has other living expenses in Phoenix, plus the cost of maintaining a residence in Tucson. Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, the other co-sponsor, said he’s spent an average of $1,500 a month for lodging since arriving in the Legislature four years ago. The $60-a-day rate didn’t cover all his costs. He said the increases are pegged to about 60 percent of the average per diem rates paid to members of Congress. The 50-mile radius was established to distinguish those lawmakers who are able to drive home and sleep in their own beds from those who must find temporary housing in Phoenix during the workweek, Stevens said. Within the 50-mile radius, members currently receive $35 per day. Both Stevens and Wheeler acknowledged the hike might not look good to the public, especially because legislative leaders have signaled a hold-the-line stance on state spending. But Stevens said the measure would not take any extra money out of the general fund. Instead, it would require the House and Senate to make room for the increased per diem within their existing budgets. He noted there have been recent staff reductions, which freed up some money in the budget. Besides, Stevens said, “(i)t’s voluntary. You don’t have to take the money.” He said 45 to 50 of the 60 House members have already signed on to the bill, and he’s just started to recruit senators. Sen. Don Shooter, R-Yuma, supports the proposal. “I don’t think it’s exorbitant,” said Shooter, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Rural lawmakers, in particular, shoulder big expenses not only to stay in Phoenix during the week but also for travel within sprawling districts, he said. Many local governments pay elected officials more than the Legislature. In Phoenix, City Council members make $61,600 a year. Members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors earn $73,000; in Maricopa, the supervisors are paid $76,600.Maricopa County justices of the peace earn $97,000. Rep. Bob Robson, R-Chandler, said he is sympathetic to the situation, but he can’t support it. After all, he said, the Legislature is designed to be part time and higher pay would put lawmakers on a path toward a full-time job. House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, said he didn’t know if he would assign the bill, if indeed it is introduced, to a committee. He acknowledged the cost of maintaining a residence in Phoenix is “painful” for many members. But, he said, lawmakers knew, or should know, what they’re getting into. “The answer is everyone ran for office in November knowing what it (the per diem) was,” he said.
While that sounds low, if the job were a full time 365 day a year job like most of us have the pay would be $87,600. And of course that pay rate is far higher then most of the people in Arizona earn.
When you add in the proposed per diem pay increases of $16,400 it will give them an effective yearly pay of $147,460 for the part time 100 day job they do.
True statesmen would end per-diem piracy
With apologies to William Shakespeare, I come today not to bury our august leaders but to praise them and to offer them a golden opportunity.
Who knew they had such ingenuity, such cunning, such gall — to attempt another end run around the people who elected them in order to give themselves a pay raise?
Who knew that Arizona’s legislators could be this bold?
Yet there they are, with a little bill that would nearly triple their per diem pay.
It seems some (read: nearly all) of our legislators don’t feel they are properly reimbursed for their expenses.
“It’s a hardship,” Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, told The Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl.
Actually, I agree with Wheeler. He and certain of his colleagues are getting shortchanged. There’s an easy way that true leaders could fix that. But first, a little history.
It’s a sweet deal, per diem. Legislators started giving it to themselves in the early 1970s, to cover their expenses while at the state Capitol. A guy like Wheeler, for example, spends four months in Phoenix every year, helping his colleagues dream up several hundred new laws for us to follow. Giving him $60 a day for expenses seems a small price to pay.
The scam lies closer to home, with the 54 lawmakers who live in or near the Valley. They dominate the 90-member Legislature, so it is no surprise that they, too, collect per diem: $35 a day, seven days a week during the session, to cover their expenses.
Which prompts me to ask:
What expenses?
They already live here. They already eat. Unlike other state employees, they already collect mileage to and from work. So what expenses do Maricopa County and nearby Pinal County legislators have?
“I was down there 20 years,” said former Sen. Peter Kay, who represented a Phoenix district before retiring in 1988. “We had absolutely no expenses whatsoever. It was a boondoggle for half the Legislature because half of them came from Maricopa County.”
In 1998, Kay was appointed by Gov. Jane Hull to chair the commission that recommends legislative raises to voters … you know, the only people charged by the state Constitution with setting legislative pay. By 1998, voters had rejected every request for a raise in two decades. As a result, legislators were earning just $15,000 – plus per diem.
So Kay set out to make honest men and women of them. He proposed a 60 percent pay boost, to $24,000 a year, but with a catch: no more per diem. Instead, lawmakers would be reimbursed for their expenses, just like any other state employee.
Fifty-six percent of voters approved Kay’s plan that year. After the election, however, legislative leaders went to Arizona’s newly elected attorney general, Janet Napolitano, to ask whether voters could take away their per diem. Napolitano sided with lawmakers, as did the state Supreme Court, whose own pay and budget are in the hands of the Legislature.
The result: legislators got their 60 percent pay raise and kept their per diem and to heck with voters.
Fifteen years later, we still haven’t give them another pay raise. What’s that old saying, fool me once…?
So now comes Wheeler and Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, in search of relief. Their bill would nearly triple per diem to $164 a day for legislators living 50 miles or more from the Capitol. Valley legislators, meanwhile, would see their per diem boosted to $97 a day.
Is it any wonder our leaders are tripping over themselves to sign onto the bill?
“The Supreme Court gave them carte blanche,” Kay said. “It is absolutely outrageous because it’s a subterfuge to increase their salary any time they want. Why bother to have a (public) vote?”
Like me, Kay believes that out-county legislators deserve to be fairly compensated for the cost of staying in Phoenix while the Legislature is in session. Unfortunately, it seems the price of giving them what they deserve is handing the majority in-county legislators a 177 percent boost to their boondoggle.
Surely shamelessness has a limit. So here’s what I propose.
Be the statesmen that we all crave. Respect what voters wanted in 1998 and eliminate in-county per-diem piracy. Then use that money to more fairly reimburse your out-county colleagues for their reasonable costs of living here.
Is it really so much to ask, that you actually have expenses before you can collect for expenses?
Heck, it might even move voters to give you a real pay raise.
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