A legislative panel advanced legislation Wednesday that would increase the maximum authorized salaries for two posts and the solicitor general in the attorney general's office from $125,595 to $167,000.
The Joint Budget Committee's personnel subcommittee approved an amendment to the appropriation bill for Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office in the fiscal year starting July 1 that would increase the maximum authorized salaries for these positions as well as for other positions in the office. As the state's top lawyer, Rutledge is paid $̶7̶2̶,̶4̶0̶8̶ $129,999.84.*
Among other things, House Bill 1167 would boost the office's spending authority for regular salaries in operations for up to 142 employees from $10.2 million in fiscal year 2017 to $12.3 million in fiscal year 2018.
Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, questioned whether the three employees, who are in positions with maximum authorized salaries of $125,595, will be paid $167,000 in the coming fiscal year.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Julie Benafield, Chief of Staff Carl Vogelpohl and Solicitor General Lee Rodofsky are each paid $124,595 in this fiscal year, according to a spokesman in the attorney general's office.
"I don't think anybody can sit here and say for certain that there will be some raises at some point for some people, but there is no intent on our part to bump everybody up to the maximum level," said Cory Cox, legislative director for the attorney general's office.
"It's just a matter of how the budgets were written and keeping with the pay plan that this body passed out and trying to follow all of y'all's lead," Cox said. "There is no intent on our part to bump everybody up to those maximum salaries."
The Legislature and Gov. Asa Hutchinson already have enacted legislation that would overhaul the state's pay plan for about 25,000 state employees who work at state agencies other than colleges and universities.
The aim is to make the state's salaries more competitive. More than half of these employees will get raises of more than 1 percent to reach the minimum salary level for their positions in the next fiscal year, while the rest will get at least 1 percent raises.
Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere said later that "the salaries and salary schedules for state attorneys were adjusted last summer, but the attorney general waited until after the Legislature approved the adjustments for the entire state before requesting changes in salary schedules for grades of staff at the office."
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said there has been an ongoing problem with "just about every agency here" retaining attorneys in state government.
Kay Barnhill, the state's personnel administrator, said the state's new training grid for attorneys authorized 8 percent raises upon implementation last year and made them eligible for another 8 percent raise based on their performance.
"We had to do some work to address the attorney turnover problem," she said.
"We did not get those raises," Cox said, referring to the raises provided for other state agency lawyers last fiscal year. "We have not had any significant increase in the budget since 1991."
Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, noted that the attorney general's office has indicated its intent to send $2 million in lawsuit settlement funds to the state's Central Services fund, which could help cover salary increases under HB1167.
The attorney general's office spending authority is $26,192,137 in fiscal year 2017, and "even with the changes to align with the state pay plan grades, under HB1167 the total appropriation would decrease by $230,485 to $25,961,652," Deere said.
"The attorney general has no plans to boost the salaries of employees to the maximum allowed under the line items. When the Governor altered the pay plan for the State, the attorney general recognized that for the office to remain the top law firm and attract the most talented individuals maximum salary rates would need to be adjusted," Deere said in a written statement.
A Section on 03/16/2017
*CORRECTION: Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s annual salary is $129,999.84. A previous version of this article gave an incorrect amount for Rutledge’s pay.