Underpaid bosses could hamper the ability for Utah state departments to attract the best candidates for executive director and elected official positions.

Currently, 20 employees in various state departments earn salaries higher than the heads of their departments, according to a report from the Department of Human Resources presented Thursday to the Executive and Judicial Compensation Commission. Additionally, 65 employees are in higher salary ranges than their supervising executive director.

A big part of the problem for executive directors and elected officials is that their salary has to be set by the Legislature. In recent years, those salaries have been part of a bill that is seperate from the overall salary package for every other state employee, and it has not fared well.

While the Legislature has Constitutional oversight of salaries, commission member Roger Tew said that there should be a method so that the directors at least receive cost-of-living increases when their actual salaries are not adjusted. But more importantly, executive directors need to be paid competitively or the state may lose qualified applicants.

"We need to raise salaries to the point that it's not a sacrifice to take the jobs," he said.

In 2005, the salaries for executive directors and elected officials — including many of the Cabinet members for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. — were stalled during the final night of the general session because House Republicans objected to a car that was allocated to former state senator Leonard Blackham, the commissioner of Agriculture and Food. During a special session later that year, executives received a 2.5 percent pay raise, a number on par with state employee raises but much less than Huntsman wanted.

This year, the bill failed by literally seconds on the final night after it did not get to the House for approval by midnight and then failed to even be considered during this summer's special sessions. Only the salaries for Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert were increased by 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively, because they were passed as separate bills.

Commission members were especially frustrated that the raises are being withheld in years when the state is flush with money. Along with executives, they are also concerned about the low pay for judges, especially when compared to what an attorney could make in private practice.

"We have a significant window of opportunity to raise these salaries right now," commission member David Jones said. "But the current surpluses are not going to last, and when they're gone, this will be impossible."

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com