Local lawmakers accept pay raise

A majority of Alabama legislators accepted an automatic pay raise this spring, the last one they will receive under a controversial 2007 pay raise resolution. Legislators receive an annual raise in their monthly expense allowance to reflect any increase in the federal consumer price index. This year that equates to 1.5 percent increase. Lawmakers, unless they sent letters to legislative staff declining the raise, will receive an additional $66 a month beginning later this month.  Lawmakers’ total compensation is about $56,868, assuming they have taken the automatic increases available to them over the years, according to information from the House of Representatives. Sixty-six of the state’s 104 sitting representatives accepted the raise, while 38 declined it, according to numbers provided by the clerk of the House of Representatives. Twenty-one of the 35 senators also declined the raise, according to data from the Alabama Senate. The other 14 senators will receive the raise, the secretary of the Senate said. Of those 14, nine returned letters to the secretary of the Senate accepting the raise and another five did not return a letter saying either way. Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden and Rep. Becky Nordgren, R-Gadsden, accepted the raise. Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, declined the raise Lawmakers this spring approved education and General Fund budgets that did not include cost of living adjustments, for school and state government employees after saying that revenue was too lean to support the increases. State government employees received a one-time $400 bonus. Teachers had received a 2 percent raise the previous year.

After the November legislative elections, lawmakers will have a new pay structure under a constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2012. The new pay structure will give lawmakers a base salary equal to the state’s median household income, which the U.S. Census Bureau estimated at $41,574 in 2012. Additionally, they would be paid a daily expense allowance and mileage, equal to what state employees get for travel expenses.