The group tasked with setting pay for elected officials agreed Tuesday that substantial pay increases were due for most of the state's seven constitutional offices.
With less than a week to submit its formal findings to the state auditor's office, the Independent Citizens Commission floated figures that would result in significant salary bumps for the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and land commissioner.
But the lieutenant governor position did not garner much support for a big pay raise.
"I'm not interested in personalities, just the position," committee Vice Chairman Chuck Banks said. "The fact of the matter is, the lieutenant governor, in the modern day, it's more ceremonial when he stands in for the governor. If we're going to save some money somewhere, I'd say, without being salty to [Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin], raising it [with a cost-of-living adjustment] and that's it."
Banks, joined by Commissioner Mitch Berry, said the part-time position serves little real function; annual pay is $42,315.
Issues involving former Lt. Gov. Mark Darr heightened the public's dissatisfaction with the office, Banks said. Darr resigned amid ethics violations in February.
"I toyed with the idea of zeroing it out. Over the past few years, it's been accepted by everyone that there's no point with the office," Berry said. "I don't think it's too harsh. I kept it what it is just based on the fact that there are no real responsibilities."
Nobody suggested a big pay increase for the officeholder.
Commissioner Stephen Tipton suggested lowering the salary to $30,000, aligning it with the amount the commission has discussed paying the speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate president pro tempore.
Commissioners suggested paying governors more. Chairman Larry Ross recommended $110,000 per year; Banks proposed up to $170,000.
Many of the commissioners agreed that the governor's salary of $87,759, the second lowest in the country, was an "embarrassment."
"We have a chief executive officer with responsibilities including being commander and chief [of the state National Guard] and being in charge of a $5 billion budget," Banks said. "I think we're too low. Now is the time to do it in a meaningful way. Given the magnitude of the responsibilities of this job, it's not out of line."
On average, the commissioners' thoughts on a raise hovered around $135,000; they made no final decisions on the salaries.
The next highest-paid constitutional officer, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, earns $73,132 a year.
On Tuesday, the commission discussed raising that salary to between $105,000 and $121,000.
A day before leaving office, former Attorney General Dustin McDaniel wrote the commission and asked it to consider more than doubling the salary of his successor to about $160,000.
Citing the responsibilities of running a large agency and handling multiple legal and political pressures, McDaniel said Rutledge should not be one of the lowest-paid attorneys in the office.
Although the secretary of state, auditor and treasurer are paid $54,848, Berry and Banks both thought that the increased responsibilities of the secretary of state's office, which runs elections and business registration, deserved more of an increase than the others.
Banks suggested a $95,000 salary for Secretary of State Mark Martin and $80,000 or $85,000 for state Auditor Andrea Lea, Treasurer Dennis Milligan and Land Commissioner John Thurston.
Ross said he was offering more conservative raises because Arkansas is a fiscally conservative state. Commissioner Stuart Hill, however, said he favored six-figure salaries for the constitutional officers, saying that's similar to the pay for officeholders in Iowa, Louisiana and Missouri.
Commissioner Barbara Graves said it was about striking a balance.
"It is about public service," Graves said. "But I think we're going a long way to make it equitable."
The group is set to meet again today to discuss salaries for the constitutional officers. By the end of the week, commissioners will have weighed in on judicial salaries as well.
On Monday, a majority of the commissioners agreed that a pay bump for legislators, from $15,869 to about $25,000, was warranted.
The commission must make any salary-change recommendations that exceed 15 percent by Monday. Afterward, there will be a public comment period in which residents can weigh in and the commission can revise its figures before they go into effect.
Metro on 01/28/2015