Leaders whittle pay 10%, make other cuts

Utah legislators turned down an automatic pay raise this year and even cut their pay by 10 percent to save state tax dollars.

But the 104-member Legislature is going further.

To save cash, lawmakers didn't form any new task forces for 2009, will make some members pay their own way to national conventions (if legislators want to go) and are canceling next month's interim study day — all to keep their own budget in the black.

"We furloughed ourselves without pay for a day, so to speak," by cutting out the April interim study day, said House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara.

"We're worried whether we can even get through this coming year" on what is termed a bare-bones budget for their own branch of government, said House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton.

In addition, for the second year in a row, legislators will not take their annual summer fact-finding tour of one part of the state, which should save even more money.

Legislative sources said that Clark will pay his own way to an April meeting of leaders of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other out-of-state travel for other legislators has also been trimmed back.

"We're doing what we can," said Clark.

It costs about $27,500 for each day legislators meet during the interim. Usually legislators meet once a month from April through November. But sometimes there are extra work days thrown in for some, or all, legislators.

Legislators don't get a salary. Rather, they are paid for each day they are in session (set at $117 a day come June), meet in interim or attend special meetings (like task forces) for which the Legislative Management Committee authorizes payment.

They are also paid a per diem (to cover expenses like meals), a hotel allowance (whether they stay in a hotel or not) and mileage to and from the Capitol.

By numbers, the Legislature is by far the smallest of the three branches of state government, with the judicial and executive branches having much larger budgets.

But legislative leaders professed that as they cut back state agency and court budgets for 2009-2010, they trimmed their own budgets accordingly.

The legislative branch has seen some significant increases — as have other branches of government — in recent years, especially in capital improvements.

Two new office buildings were constructed on Capitol Hill to accommodate the Legislature and statewide elected officials, like the governor, while the Capitol underwent a three-year $200 million renovation.