12:00 am
May 23, 2014
We previously noted the governor’s enthusiasm for public employee pay increases and new revenues. The Olympian has more today.
…[Inslee] got a standing ovation when he said it was “unacceptable” workers had gone six years without a general pay raise, according to federation spokesman Tim Welch.
Inslee’s spokesmen did not dispute that he called the lack of raises unacceptable.
The numbers aren’t out yet and health care costs, always considerable, will be a part of separate negotiations taking place later this summer.
A contract would run two years. A 1 percent pay raise for all general government and higher education employees would cost $33 million from the general fund and $44 million from all other funds in 2015 alone, according to the governor’s Office of Financial Management. Over two years, the cost grows to $66 million from the general fund and roughly $154 million from all sources
Inslee has said Washington’s teachers also deserve raises after going six years without cost-of-living adjustments. K-12 employees are in line for cost-of-living raises under the terms of Initiative 732, which ties teacher COLAs to inflation.
Teachers are likely to receive 1.3 percent raises in 2015 and 1.9 percent in 2016. OFM has estimated it needs $216 million from the general fund to make those adjustments to the state salary schedule.