By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – When Alabama legislators were criticized for voting themselves a 61 percent pay raise, some said it was only fair since most employees in state government had received substantial pay raises since lawmakers last hiked their compensation in 1991.
But Alabama State Employees Association executive director Mac McArthur says pay for rank-and-file state employees has gone up only 41-and-a-half percent since 1990, not 61 percent.
On March 8th, the second day of the 2007 regular session, lawmakers in the House and Senate decided by unrecorded voice votes to raise their annual compensation from 30-thousand-710 dollars to 49-thousand-500 dollars.
The governor promised to veto the pay raise and is expected to send it back to lawmakers tomorrow (Tuesday).
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)