Many lawmakers clueless about Bredesen’s raises

By John Rodgers, NashvilleCityPaper.com
July 23, 2007

Some lawmakers say Gov. Phil Bredesen's move to give high-dollar raises to his top officials was a 'desperation' move to keep them.

Democratic and Republican state lawmakers said they were unaware that Gov. Phil Bredesen was going to give substantial pay raises to his top political officers, calling it a possible “desperation” move to keep them.

Last week, Bredesen announced that he was handing out 38 pay raises totaling nearly $1 million to top state officials, many of whom he personally appointed.

“I need to keep some of mine through the end of my term,” Bredesen said in reference to his commissioners.

Bredesen based his pay hikes on a study released by Mercer Human Resources Consulting. The state’s contract with Mercer, which ended June 30, paid the consulting company a maximum of $200,000.

State lawmakers hold the purse strings on the state budget, but many of the legislators reached Friday said they were unaware that the governor was boosting the pay of his cabinet members until hearing about it from the press.

Rep. Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) said she was unaware of the pay hikes. Harwell questioned the amount of the raises when the commissioners are supposed to be doing a public service by working for the state.

“They knew what the salary was when they took the position and to (give) a 50 to 60 percent increase I believe is a bit much,” Harwell said. “Especially when we’re not giving other state employees that kind of pay raise.”

While a few commissioners received as much as 63 percent pay raises, state employees received a 3 percent cost of living increase in this year’s state budget.

Jim Tucker, the executive director of the Tennessee State Employees Association, said state employees deserve to be paid on a market scale and noted that Metro employees are paid more than state employees and 8 percent less than the market rate.

“If salary adjustments are made to market rates for a select few, then all state employees should and need to be adjusted to market rates,” Tucker said in a statement. “State employees work hard serving Tennessee’s citizens and deserve competitive salaries.”

Of the state’s commissioners, 20 of the 21 received pay hikes ranging from as little as 9 percent to as much as 63 percent for a pair of officials.

The salaries of those two officials, Lana Seivers, the commissioner of the Department of Education, and Matt Kisber, the commissioner of Economic and Community Development, each increased from $110,664 to $180,000 a year.

All told, the average pay hike for the 38 officials was $24,391 and when compiled cost nearly $1 million in taxpayer funds.

Rep. Rob Briley (D-Nashville) said he does not think the pay raises are exorbitant.

Briley said the commissioners could all be earning much more in the private sector, and that Bredesen was in danger of losing his commissioners if the pay wasn’t increased.

“They were grossly underpaid to begin with,” Briley said. “If you look at the benefit and value that they bring to the organization, as evidenced by the successes that we’ve had over the past five years, I would have done it if I were governor just to keep them there.”

Of the commissioners, Kisber may have come out the best. The Mercer study recommended that he be paid $135,000 a year along with other commissioners within that level.

Bredesen, however, bumped Kisber up two places to a Class 1 commissioner status, a distinction that receives $180,000 a year.

Lola Potter, spokeswoman with the Department of Human Resources, said Kisber’s elevation was due to the market and comparing his duties to similar ones at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

“This has nothing to do with Matt Kisber,” Potter said. “It has to do with that position.”

One lawmaker, Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley), the chairman of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee, was aware of the pay raises since funds were appropriated in last year’s state budget.

“To take people out of the private sector, which is what you generally want to do with some people with some real good experience, it just costs,” Fitzhugh said. “It’s just sort of the cost of doing business, and I certainly would rather do it that way than to have to settle because of salary limitations for people that weren’t up to the job.”

Potter with the Department of Human Resources said about $3.1 million was allocated in last year’s budget for the pay hikes.

Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) said “it would have been nice” to have a discussion with the Bredesen administration about the pay raises, but he’s not alleging Bredesen went overboard.

“I don’t know that they’re exorbitant,” Norris said. “It looks like he was trying to stop a number of people from bailing out to me. It came across as sort of a desperation play.”