The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee says his panel will take another look at the pay plan for state employees.
Early in the session – House and Senate budget writers agreed on a “three and three” plan – where state workers would get pay raises that average three percent per year. Governor Dalrymple had proposed a “four and four” plan – with the extra one percent to go towards retirement.
The original pay plan included money for market equity adjustments. That money was removed. But that may change.
"As we start going into the budgets in the subcommittees in the Senate, we'll be looking at doing some restoration of that," said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks). "If nothing else, we should at least balance that against the money that was saved that would have gone into health insurance."
Holmberg says the new contract with Sanford Health is $31 less per contract.
"That's a pool of about $7 million," said Holmberg.
Holmberg says there are critical areas where the state is losing good people to private industry – and have had problems in offering enough pay to get people to take the jobs -- or stay with state government.