Lawmakers' pay may violate wage law
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By DAVE GRAM The Associated Press - Published: January 7, 2009
MONTPELIER — As the state budget is being cut and other elected officials are taking pay reductions, Vermont lawmakers are slated to get an automatic raise of nearly 2 percent this year.
Some are talking about foregoing the increase — from $614.30 to $625.36 a week while they're in session — or joining top executive branch officials in taking a 5 percent pay cut.
"There's not a legislator in Montpelier who's there because of the compensation," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, who is backing a move to save money by trimming the legislative session from the 18 weeks scheduled this year to 16.
"We're there because we care," Shumlin said. "Most of us take pay cuts from our other jobs to serve the state. But I still believe when Vermonters are feeling so much pain, we need to share in that pain."
Lawmakers in 2004 passed a bill calling for periodic raises tied to a regional consumer price index.
Gov. James Douglas likes the idea of lawmakers taking a cut instead of a raise.
But if estimates of hours worked offered by several lawmakers are taken into account, they'd still be making less than Vermont's minimum wage of $8.06, even if they take the pay raise.
Several said they work on legislative business 60 hours a week during the legislative session and 10 hours a week otherwise.
If true across the board, that would mean lawmakers work 1,420 hours a year. They get their weekly salary while the Legislature is in session, which it is scheduled to be for 18 weeks this year. That would bring their annual pay to about $11,256, and their hourly rate to $7.92.
"Don't even include campaigning in your calculations; campaigning is huge," said state Sen. Alice Nitka, a Ludlow Democrat who represents Windsor County.
"It's so much better than it was when I first became a member (of the House, in 1999), it's a big help in terms of the cost of being there," Nitka said of legislative pay. "I'm not complaining about it one bit. I feel lucky to get it."
Lawmakers also get $54 a day for meals while in the capital and $93 a day for rooms when staying overnight — up from $83 last year.
Nitka said she has made money on the room reimbursement. She's renting an apartment in Montpelier with another lawmaker this session, but for years she stayed in a notoriously grubby motel whose name she didn't want to see in print. "It might have gotten better," she said.
Rent at the motel was $30 a night, Nitka said. The lot wasn't always plowed on snowy mornings, and she brought her own sleeping bag. "I would never sleep on their sheets, and with good reason."
She put the balance of the room allowance toward the $1,100 a month she pays toward health insurance for herself and her husband.
Unlike other government workers, legislators aren't covered by the state health plan.
Rep. Ernest Shand, D-Windsor, defended the automatic cost-of-living adjustment for lawmakers.
When it passed in 2004, "there hadn't been a raise for seven or eight years — you just don't do it," given the public reaction. The retired telephone engineer added, "If you want to have good people who are loyal to you, you pay them a reasonable salary."
Others are ready to sacrifice.
"The members of the General Assembly need to lead by example," said state Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, who works as a lawyer when not in session. "It we're asking Vermonters to do with less when it comes to state services, there's no other conclusion that can be reached. We need to take a cut like everyone else."
Among those taking a cut effective Jan. 15 is Douglas, whose salary will drop to $142,542.
Other statewide officials also are taking a 5 percent cut. And the same goes for Vermont's elected prosecutors and sheriffs who make more than $60,000 a year. The law enforcement cuts will save about $57,000 annually, according to Jane Woodruff, executive director of the Department of State's Attorneys and Vermont Sheriffs' Departments.