State Budget Debate
Wednesday, June 04 2008
by Laura Leslie
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Lawmakers in the State House are scheduled to debate the budget today. The 21 billion dollar spending plan moved out of committee on Tuesday after lawmakers tacked on dozens of amendments.
Among the proposals approved by House members is a proposal to study whether salaries for some state workers are too high. The study would consider the pay for a range of state workers, but the target is lottery leaders. In the current version on the state budget most state employees would get a raise of two point seven five percent -- but lottery workers could get a 5 percent boost. That would give lottery chief Tom Shaheen a salary of about two hundred forty-six thousand dollars next year – that's seventy five percent more than the governor. Alamance Republican Cary Allred says it’s too much.
"When I voted for the lottery, I didn’t mean for the director of the lottery to be the winner of lottery. And if he wants to leave, don’t let the screen door hit you from behind on the way out."
Supporters of the Lottery say Shaheen’s salary is competitive with directors in other states. The salary study was one of more than 55 amendments the committee voted on before approving the bill and sending it back to the full house. It’s scheduled for a debate and a vote today.
