MONTPELIER — As a show of solidarity with recession-battered Vermonters, lawmakers and executive-branch appointees back in 2009 absorbed a 5 percent pay cut in their government salaries. As state revenues climb to their first year-over-year increase since 2008, however, top officials say it’s likely time to restore those reductions.

The fiscal-year 2013 budget proposal unveiled by Gov. Peter Shumlin last month includes about $104,000 to restore the 5 percent pay cuts for 180 lawmakers, and an additional $2 million to undo cuts endured by about 600 non-unionized executive-branch employees.

Though money has been appropriated for the restorations, Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding and House Speaker Shap Smith caution that no final decisions have been made.

“State employees, whether (union or non-union), did their part to help the state when budget revenues declined precipitously,” Spaulding said Friday. “Just as they helped in the downturn, it is appropriate to restore those cuts in the upswing.”

So-called “exempt” executive-branch employees include constitutional officers, department commissioners, agency secretaries and other gubernatorial appointees. But they also can include lower-level employees, such administrative assistants and, notably, lawyers, who constitute about three-quarters of the 590 exempt employees.

Exempt employees aren’t part of the union system for two main reasons: because of the confidential nature of some of their work, and so they can be fired at the whim of the governor, or other high-ranking officials.

“These are people responsible for instituting the policies of the governor,” said Commissioner of Human Resources Kate Duffy.

The pay cuts came at about the same time unionized workers endured a 3 percent reduction in their salaries. Shumlin earlier this year announced a new collective bargaining agreement with the Vermont State Employees Association that restored the 3 percent pay cut absorbed by more than 7,000 unionized workers in 2009.

“I imagine that at the same time we’re restoring pay cuts to classified workers, pay cuts will likely be restored for exempt employees,” Spaulding said.

Smith said the restoration won’t add much dollar-wise to the paltry sums paid to Vermont’s part-time legislators.

Each member of the House and Senate earns a weekly salary of $604.79 while in session, a sum that does not include lodging reimbursement of $101 per day, a meal reimbursement of $61 per day and a 50-cent per mile travel rate.

“We took a 5-percent cut out of salaries that are less than $10,000 per year because we wanted to show solidarity with the rest of Vermonters who were feeling great economic pain,” he said. “As we come out of this deep recession, it is appropriate to restore the pay cut.”

The salaries of exempt workers in the executive branch are more diverse, ranging from $26,702 for one office secretary to $142,542 for the governor (non-union workers making less than $60,000 took only 3 percent cuts).

Though he’s been included in the 5 percent restoration budget, Duffy said she didn’t know whether Shumlin will opt to take the increase.

“Frankly, I am inclined to recommend he act consistently with all of the other players, but do not know his thoughts on the matter,” Spaulding wrote in an email Sunday.

According to Mathew Barewicz, economic and labor market information chief for the Vermont Department of Labor, average annual wages in Vermont increased by 6.6 percent between April 2009 and the April 2011.

All told, the restoration in cuts for union and non-union workers will amount to $14.4 million, a fraction of the more than half-billion dollars in annual payroll costs for the state of Vermont.

Spaulding said he’s leaning against an inflationary increase for non-union workers on top of the restoration; unionized employees next year will received 2 percent inflationary increases, in addition to have their cuts restored.

Turnover in gubernatorial administrations since the pay cuts took effect will complicate matters, Spaulding said. Many commissioners, secretaries and deputies make more than their Douglas-era counterparts; those workers, Spaulding said, will not be in line for 5 percent restorations.

Other exempt workers, meanwhile, are making less money than they would have in years past, something Spaulding said he may look to remedy as the administration reconfigures compensation levels.

“We have wanted to restore fairness in the system, but we didn’t want to do that until classified employees had their pay restored,” Spaulding said.

He said the state will soon be losing a “valued” deputy commissioner to the private sector, where the person will earn a far higher salary.

“We can’t match the private sector, but we want to make sure we’re not too uncompetitive in state government,” he said.

peter.hirschfeld@timesargus.com

peter.hirschfeld@rutlandherald.com