A $10 pay raise urged for Utah's legislators

Utah legislators should get a modest $10-a-day pay raise, says a citizen Legislative Compensation Commission.

But the 104 part-time lawmakers should also take any number of steps themselves to make their "true" compensation more visible to taxpayers, according to the seven-member commission, which will make its recommendations to legislative leaders next month.

Going to $130 from $120 a day (7.7 percent) is not out of line, considering that lawmakers rejected any pay raise for two years in the early 2000s when tax revenues were dwindling and no pay raises to full-time state employees were given, members of the commission said.

However, some out-of-town lawmakers who will take the newly offered actual-use hotel re-reimbursement will see their take-home pay increase by 42.5 percent, if the Legislature adopts the commission's recommendation to include the current $79-a-day each lawmaker receives for lodging expenses (paid whether they stay in a hotel or in their own homes) as part of the regular salary.

Combining the small pay hike with the hotel per diem all into regular salary would move a legislator's pay from $120 a day to $209 a day.

That might be a bit much, said House speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy. "Maybe in total, the pay should be at $175 a day with hotel re-reimbursement, not the $209. But ultimately that will up to the House and Senate."

The commission also recommends that each of the 16 members of elected leadership, including Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, and Curtis get $500 more a year in their leadership stipend.

A staff report prepared for the commission by the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget shows that when adding in the "pretty good" benefits legislators receive, including health care and retirement, overall some legislators' total compensation package exceeds $35,000 a year — although up to $15,000 or more of that comes not in cash but in benefits.

Curtis, who has not yet seen the commission's final recommendations, said Tuesday a straight pay hike of only $10 a day seems reasonable to him. He also likes the idea of "blending together" the current per-day pay and the hotel per diem.

"That way everyone is treated fairly" because many urban lawmakers don't stay in hotels and can pocket the $79 a day as income, he said.

Rural legislators now grumble that they have to pay for hotel rooms with their $79 a night hotel reimbursement during the 45-day general session, while Wasatch Front legislators who drive home each night of the session just take that $3,555 in hotel per diem as cash.