Records show pay bumps of at least $10,000

August 18, 2024 | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

One hundred and eighty-five employees who work for executive branch agencies and other offices and agencies outside of the state’s colleges and universities received raises of at least $10,000 in fiscal 2025 that started July 1. Seventy-three work for the attorney general’s office, according to state records.

For executive branch employees, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders authorized a one-time 3% market adjustment pay increase for state government’s executive branch employees that went into effect June 23.

The Republican governor also authorized a 1% base salary merit raise for executive branch employees who have met expectations in their most recent performance evaluations, and a 3% base salary merit raise for those employees who have exceeded expectations in their performance evaluations that went into effect July 7.

Sanders is aiming to enact an overhaul of the state government pay plan during the Arkansas General Assembly’s regular session, which starts Jan. 13.

Based on state records, the state employees of executive branch agencies and other departments and offices outside of the state’s colleges and universities who received raises exceeding $30,000 during the first two pay periods of fiscal 2025 include:

Alexandra Benton, deputy attorney general whose salary increased by $58,014 from $125,986 to $184,000. She formerly served as a senior assistant attorney general.

Melissa Greenslade, Northwest Technical Institute director, whose salary increased by $36,235 from $71,875 to $108,110. She formerly was assistant director at the institute. She currently serves as the institute’s interim president.

Brian Black, senior assistant attorney general II, whose salary increased by $32,100 from $121,000 to $154,000.

Jeffrey Bell, whose salary increased by $31,145 from $38,931 as a part-time public defender III to $70,076 as an attorney specialist at the state Department of Finance and Administration’s Office of Child Support Enforcement.

Carl Rosenbaum Jr., senior management assistant I in the attorney general’s office, whose salary increased by $30,001 from $110,000 to $140,000.

Paul Davis, senior management assistant I in the attorney general’s office, whose salary increased by $30,001 from $110,000 to $140,000.

Dawnetta Calhoun, senior management assistant I in the attorney general’s office, whose salary increased by $30,001 from $110,000 to $140,001.

Attorney General Tim Griffin said Benton’s salary increase is attributable to her promotion from senior assistant attorney general to deputy attorney general for intergovernmental affairs, “and the increase in the pay scale for a Deputy Attorney General. Any discussion without explaining that misses the mark.

“She performs at the level of our Deputy AGs: excellent. If I could have paid her that amount earlier I would have. She earns it — and more — each and every day,” the Republican attorney general said in a written statement.

“Before I took office, I knew how much people in the Office of the Attorney General were paid, and I knew it was low compared to what qualified attorneys can make elsewhere,” said Griffin, who has served as the state’s attorney general since January 2023. “I was not interested in how things have always been or maintaining the status quo. I am interested in making things the way they should be. To that end, when I got here, I saw the talent retention problem up close and took steps to fix it.

“I’m not interested in hiring mediocre staff: Arkansans deserve the best legal representation on matters that impact millions of lives. I am pursuing excellence, and in my office, I strive to hire only the best for the people of Arkansas,” he said in his written statement.

The average salary for the 167 employees in the attorney general’s office has increased from $89,475.39 to $99,778.25, said Jeff LeMaster, a spokesman for the attorney general. The average employee salary increase was $10,302.87 and the total increase was $1.7 million, he said.

During this year’s fiscal session, the Republican-dominated Legislature and the governor enacted an appropriation that boosted the maximum-authorized salaries by between 9% and 22% for positions in the attorney general’s office and increased the number of full-time positions by 16 in fiscal 2025.

Among other things, Act 145 increased the maximum-authorized salary for deputy attorney general positions by 10% from $167,000 to $184,000 a year and increased the deputy attorney general positions from 11 to 12. Act 145 also increased the maximum authorized-salary senior assistant attorney general II positions by 22% from $125,986 to $154,000 a year, and created four senior management assistant I positions with a maximum-authorized salary of $155,000 a year.

A year ago, 184 Arkansas Game and Fish Commission employees received raises of at least $10,000 at the start of fiscal 2024 that started July 1, 2023, state records showed at that time.

They made up more than two-thirds of the 262 state employees who work for executive branch agencies and other offices and agencies who were awarded pay increases of at least $10,000 in fiscal 2024 and who work outside the state’s colleges and universities, state records showed at that time.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission employees’ raises in fiscal 2024 came after the Legislature and the governor enacted changes to the commission’s pay plan as part of the commission’s appropriation, Act 601 of 2023, for fiscal 2024 during the 2023 regular session. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is constitutionally independent from state government’s executive branch, though governors appoint Game and Fish commissioners.

During the June special session, the governor and the Legislature enacted an appropriation for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for fiscal 2025 that started July 1, ensuring the agency will be able to continue funding its operations and ending a monthlong battle over the maximum-authorized salary for its director.

Act 2 of the special session increased the maximum authorized salary for the commission’s director from $152,638 to $170,437 in fiscal 2025 and requires a legislative panel’s approval for any salary increase exceeding 5%. The General Assembly adjourned this year’s fiscal session May 9 without approving an appropriation bill for the commission amid a dispute over a version of the appropriation bill that would have increased the director’s maximum authorized salary to $190,000 a year.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission voted to increase commission Director Austin Booth’s salary by 5% during its July 18 meeting, said agency spokesman Randy Zellers. He said there are no further plans to increase the director’s salary at this time. Booth’s salary is now $160,270 a year — up from $152,638 a year — according to the Arkansas Transparency website.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH RAISES

Prior to the recent 3% market adjustment pay increase for executive branch employees, the executive branch had 22,238 employees with an annual average salary of $50,755 a year, said Brooke Hollowoa, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transformation and Shared Services.

Besides merit raises and market adjustments, other reasons state employees can get pay raises include promotions, transfers and director discretionary increases, she said.

After the 3% market adjustment and merit pay raise were granted to executive branch employees, there were 22,437 executive branch employees with an average annual salary of $53,098 a year, Hollowoa said.

The average mean wage in Arkansas was estimated to be $51,250 in May 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hollowoa said 9,044 executive branch employees received 1% merit raises and 8,014 executive branch employees received 3% merit raises.

She said the total cost of the merit raises is about $19.4 million, including $7.7 million in state general revenue, and the total cost of the 3% market adjustment was $37.1 million, including $14.8 million in state general revenue.

State agencies used their existing budgets to pay for the raises, Hollowoa said.

During this year’s fiscal session, the Legislature and the governor enacted a general revenue budget of $6.31 billion for fiscal 2025 — an increase of $109.3 million or 1.76% — with most of the increased funds earmarked for the state’s Education Freedom Accounts and the state’s public school fund.

In June of 2023, Sanders authorized merit pay raises for what she called exceptional executive branch employees in a move the transformation department said meant about 5,760 of the state’s more than 22,000 executive branch employees received merit raises, effective July 9, 2023, with a cost of $6 million in state general revenue. For executive branch employees who have served for more than one year, those deemed highly effective received a 4.5% base salary increase, while those deemed role models received a 5% base salary increase under the merit raises authorized in June 2023.

Sanders’ merit raise plan led to some state employees grumbling to state lawmakers, but some key lawmakers pinned the blame on the performance evaluation system under former Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s administration.

In February of this year, a legislative panel signed off on a revised performance pay system for executive branch employees.

Act 172 of 2024 authorized executive branch employees to receive “a market adjustment” of up to 3% of the employee’s base salary in fiscal 2025, increased the minimum salary for employees to $32,405 a year, raised the maximum salary range for all pay grades by 10%, and authorized new incentives for future recruits and current employees who go above and beyond, either through a lump-sum payment or through extra hours of paid leave.

In a letter to state employees in mid-June, Sanders wrote that “We all recognize that our state’s current pay plan is imperfect, which is why I launched the Arkansas Forward initiative and plan to approach the 2025 legislative session with an overhauled pay plan that better rewards performance and keeps us competitive in employee compensation.”

In February, the Legislative Council signed off on the state Department of Transformation and Shared Service’s consulting contract for up to $5.5 million to help the state’s 15 executive branch agencies become more efficient and improve services to Washington, D.C.-based McKinsey & Co.

Asked for a progress report on the proposed state pay plan in works for the regular session, Hollowoa referred to her written answer to a question about whether McKinsey & Co. has turned in a proposed pay plan to the state Office of Personnel Management and whether the consultant has been paid for the proposal.

“There has not yet been a payment made to McKinsey for personnel work,” Hollowoa said.

Sanders spokeswoman Alexa Henning said Thursday “We are paying as projects are completed.”

Read full article HERE.