Dozens of California Senate staffers get little-known pay sweetener

[FreakinDJ]

Source: sacbee

Dozens of California Senate staffers get little-known pay sweetener
ShareThisBy Jim Sanders
[email protected]
Published: Saturday, Feb. 07, 2009 | Page 16A

Dozens of California Senate employees have their pay padded by a combined total of several hundred thousand dollars a year through a little-known method not disclosed publicly as salaries.

Sixty-eight employees receive monthly augmentations, including seven whose salaries are six digits without the sweetener and seven whose base pay is $80,000 to $99,000, Senate records show.

The padding is not new – it has existed with little public knowledge for many years – but the Senate Rules Committee last month ordered that no additional employees participate in light of the state's $40 billion budget shortfall.

Senators traditionally have had discretion to decide whether to award the extra compensation; if so, it is deducted from a $2,000 to $2,500 monthly entitlement each senator receives for office expenses.



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/1606376.html

---

Give them Hell DU

[dcindian]

1. I don't know but is what they make a lot of money in California?

From the article:

Of the remaining 64 participants, 21 have salaries below $50,000, while 10 others are paid $50,000 to $60,000; 16 from $60,000 to $70,000; three from $70,000 to $80,000; four from $80,000 to $90,000; three from $90,000 to $100,000; and seven above $100,000.

Honestly it is a loaded article. Look how they word it dozens instead of 68 and up to $1000 each instead of what they actually get.


It is odd in this downturn many want people to make less and somehow that is going to get us out of a recession how? I am not going to agree with any wage pressure whether it be for these folks or an union employee.

[glowing]

2. Yes, but everyone needs to give a little. No, these 68 persons don't

need to go into foreclosure, but if it helps another teacher stay in a job or helps pay for a child's school lunch, shouldn't the wealth be spread a bit in these times? Seriously, I'm less worried about govt workers, I'm much more pissed off about wall street execs who have taken our money, and rub their lifestyles in our nose. Its just about time we make things a little bit more even handed. Its amazing that in this day in age when we have all this technology and the ability to talk to everyone and anyone around the world and know about the conditions in other countries and in our own, that a piece of paper can still allow one person to be more powerful or more special or more entitled to nutritious food, superb education, and more than adequate space for their heads to rest their worries at the end of the night.

[FreakinDJ]

3. More the fact it is not publicly disclosed

I'm not into secrit societies or hiding public payroll

[LeftyMom]

4. Depends on where they live.

If they live here in Sacramento, you can do pretty well for yourself on $50K/yr or more. If they're living in their district, in some parts of California that's barely enough to make rent on anyplace decent, and maybe not even that.

I'm not all that fussed about our state congresscritters spending part of their office budget on staff rather than supplies. They each have an office expense budget, how they divvy it up is really up to them, provided they dot their Is and cross their Ts. This is way less annoying than say, having the state pay their leases for luxury cars, which is a more common and more expensive perk that they award to themselves rather than to staff.

[Earth_First]

5. I wonder how many of the 310,000 California teachers recieved 'sweeteners' to run their "OFFICES"?

Oh wait...

Er...