The panel that sets state elected officials' salaries proposed 2.5% raises for Arkansas' seven constitutional officers and 135 members of the General Assembly.
The raises, which total $157,266, would take effect after a public comment period and final vote by the Independent Citizens Commission on Jan. 22.
The commission settled on 2.5% as a cost-of-living adjustment for state officials after discussing the matter at several meetings throughout the year.
Raises would go to the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, land commissioner and state lawmakers.
No officials requested a pay increase, which prompted commission Chairman Chuck Banks of Little Rock to question whether the panel should consider raises at all.
Commissioner Annabelle Imber Tuck, a former state Supreme Court justice, said political officials wouldn't request raises even if warranted.
"I think we should give [raises] because part of the problem before the commission was created was it's very hard politically for the Legislature, etc., to ask," she said. "I have a feeling that was the whole problem before the independent commission was created. I think the fact that they didn't ask is not indicative of need."
The commission was created by Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution after voters approved it in 2014. The General Assembly previously set the salaries of constitutional officers, lawmakers and the judicial branch.
Last year, the commission voted to give all of the state's elected officials 3% raises, totaling about $1.23 million. It also gave raises in 2017 after forgoing any salary adjustments in 2016.
In fiscal 2020, which started July 1, executive-branch agencies were authorized to spend 2.4% more on performance-based salaries for their employees.
The commission voted earlier this year to give 2.5% raises to Arkansas' 194 judges and 28 elected prosecutors, as well as $2,500 pay increases to the seven Supreme Court justices and 12 Court of Appeals judges. Those raises cost more than $946,300.
In a Wednesday letter to the commission, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, a Republican, asked commissioners not to raise his salary.
"Consistent with my past practice, I have respectfully requested that the Independent Citizen Commission not raise my salary," Griffin said in a statement.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement, "I have always left salary issues to the independent commission."
Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge thanked the commission in a statement.
"The Independent Citizens Commission has reached this decision independently, and I respect and am grateful for the pay increase," she said. "While I did not ask for an increase, state law prohibits me from rejecting the commission's decision. I appreciate that the commission viewed our work on behalf of the citizens of Arkansas as being worthy of a pay raise."
House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, also thanked the commission for its effort.
"Although I'm not in public service for the monetary consideration, I appreciate the due diligence of the commission in undertaking the work tasked to them by the people of Arkansas," Shepherd said in a statement. "I respect and defer to their judgment."
Commissioner of State Lands Tommy Land declined to comment through a spokesman.
Spokesmen for Secretary of State John Thurston and Treasurer Dennis Milligan didn't respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
In arriving at its decision, the commission had reviewed a salary comparison of officials in Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Arkansas' governor and attorney general earn more than their counterparts in all of those states except Tennessee, where the governor and attorney general are paid $190,116 and $185,064, respectively, according to the commission's data.
Arkansas' secretary of state, auditor and treasurer are paid well below their counterparts in those five states.
The commission discussed increasing those three officials' pay by more than 2.5% to close that gap, but it ultimately took no such action.
Arkansas' lieutenant governor is paid much less than the lieutenant governors in those five states. In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor's post is a part-time position.
Of those five states, only Missouri has a land commissioner, who is paid $141,640.
The Independent Citizens Commission is composed of Banks, Tuck, Phillip Fletcher of Bentonville, Jonathan Rogers of North Little Rock, Jan Zimmerman of Little Rock, Tommy May of Pine Bluff and Nathan Evers of El Dorado.
Metro on 12/19/2019