FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 20, 2015

MEDIA CONTACT:
Katie Fulkerson, (651) 296-5133

Senate Republicans Target Automatic Pay

Raises Proposed by Dayton and Senate DFL
Increases going to administrative overhead and 2,300 new state
employees, not programs to help Minnesotans
(St. Paul, MN) As budget bills work their way through the legislative
process, Senate Republicans have been targeting the automatic
increases in overhead spending allotted to each state agency by Gov.
Dayton and the DFL Senate. Instead of asking agencies to look for
wasteful spending to eliminate, Gov. Dayton instructed them to add
3.6% to their total compensation costs, whether they need it or not.
The auto-pilot increases in government budgets can be found in every
budget narrative from Gov. Dayton and are included in the Senate
omnibus finance bills:
Agencies were instructed to include a 1.8% increase to total
compensation each year in their base budgets, based upon the
compound annual compensation spending rate increase per FTE over
the last ten years for executive branch employees.
This is a perfect example of the status quo, said Sen. Michelle
Benson (R-Ham Lake). Instead of working to put Minnesota families
first by providing with some financial relief, Senate Democrats want
the government to spend more. Democrats are more concerned with
guaranteeing St. Paul spending increases than they are with family
budgets, and that is unacceptable. Minnesotans deserve the relief that
the Republican plan would provide.
The automatic increases to the bureaucracy of every state agency is
above and beyond the normal salary increases already approved in the
state employee contracts. The 1.8% increase per year (3.6% over the
biennium) was chosen by simply taking the average increase for state
compensation over the last ten years. The money will be used to add

more than 2,300 new state employees during the next two years and
pay for salary increases for commissioners and other top employees.
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