JACKSON - Inequities in salaries have made it difficult to retain and recruit agency administrators and mid-level managers in state government, lawmakers say.
As a result, there has been an exodus of engineers, health care professionals, accountants and administrators, says Sen. Billy Thames, D-Mize, chairman of the Senate Fees and Salaries Committee.
"It has been seven years since salaries for most of these people have been addressed," Thames said. "Since that time we have given teachers four or five pay raises, we've given state employees several pay raises. Because we have to set the salaries, they have been ignored."
Legislation pending in the Senate would give 10 percent raises to county officials and most state elected officials.
The keys, Thames said, are to remove from state law limits on salaries for agency directors and repeal a statute that says no one can earn more than agency heads. He said increasing salaries for agency directors means pay scales for accountants, engineers, land surveyors and others could also increase.
Thames said the Personnel Board has people "who can look at these salaries objectively, fairly and equitably and come up with a salary to fit the job," he said.
Rep. John Reeves, R-Jackson, chairman of the House Fees and Salaries Committee, agrees.
Reeves said there was no good reason to lock the salaries of 61 people into state law.
"Salaries ought to be established by professionals using professional standards, not by politicians using political whim," Reeves said.
Reeves said one problem is at the Mississippi schools for the blind and deaf. He said those directors' salaries are too low and show the "gross inequities" that exist.
A survey of salaries from July 2002 show the directors of the blind and deaf schools are each paid $65,000 a year. In neighboring Arkansas, the salaries are $73,945 at both schools; and in Louisiana, $89,086 at the blind school and $92,926 at the deaf school.
Thames said another example is engineers. He said some Department of Transportation engineers didn't get raises last year because they were bumping up against the director's salary of $85,000, which is set by law.
"They've had to contract with engineers and pay them more because we cannot hire them and pay what the market requires," Thames said.
Thames said salaries would still be limited to no greater than 150 percent of the salary paid the governor.
The governor now earns $101,800 a year. Under the salary bills, the governor's pay would increase to $111,980 on Jan. 1, 2004.
"These people are captains of the ship and many of them are highly trained people, and to get your high-quality people to run these ships you've got to be competitive in salary," Thames said.
Thames said businesses worry about profit and loss. He said state government is judged on how it succeeds in taking care of its citizens.
"That's how we gauge public service," Thames said.
"A lot people resent what these people make," he said. "I tell you it's just like anything else, you pay for what you get and you get what you pay for."
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