From staff reports

At a time when all state agencies are being asked to clamp down on their budgets, and even rural cities and counties are expected to give up a portion of their reserves to cure the state’s budget ills, the notion that one state agency would lavish raises on its employees seems ridiculous.

Friday, January 18, 2002

At a time when all state agencies are being asked to clamp down on their budgets, and even rural cities and counties are expected to give up a portion of their reserves to cure the state’s budget ills, the notion that one state agency would lavish raises on its employees seems ridiculous.

But that’s exactly what Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch has proposed for his sizable staff – he granted them 8 percent pay raises last week and plans another 7.6 percent hike in July.

His reasoning: His office must attract and retain skilled lawyers to do the people’s work well. Some aren’t making as much as some city attorneys, he says, and even with the raises, the pay will still lag.

This brings to mind a few questions for Hatch: First of all, this must not be a new problem – all city attorneys, after all, didn’t recieve huge raises just this year. His staff hasn’t bolted for higher-paying work yet. And if the threat of such an exodus has been there, why has Hatch bypassed several budget surplus years and decided to offer his raises during the first year in a decade when the state can’t afford it?

Second, don’t all state agencies need top talent? Of course they do. Nobody’s denying the importance of the attorney general’s office, but it’s insulting to other agencies that his employees should be deemed crucial enough to get raises while others are denied.

The Albert Lea School District, too, needs to pay its teachers well to retain them. Yet, partly because of school funding inequities built into the system, it has only been able to afford raises that are the lowest in the Big Nine conference over the last six years. And teachers here have little hope of getting 8 and 7.6 percent raises in one year – in fact, no teachers anywhere do.

To Hatch’s credit, he has cut millions from his office’s budget by reducing staff. Other agencies are going to be expected to do the same, however, and they will not be getting large pay raises.

Hatch’s dilemma is one we can sympathize with – many employers, public and private, face competition for employees. But during a year when so many others must make sacrifices, it is not fair that his staff get large raises, and it doesn’t make fiscal sense for the state.