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NC House Speaker Tillis gives huge raises to his staff amid layoffs

Deadbolt

Deadbolt

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WhatUTalkinBout Willis said:
Read the whole article, seems fair to me.
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Agreed. He's still paying less than his predecessor, so he did manage to cut costs even if he took a confusing path to reach the final #.

I can certainly see why it looks bad. He should have just started these employees at the salary he intended to give them anyway, cited the lower salary relative to the previous Speaker and been done with it.
 
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I found the article confusing (mostly this part):

But even assuming that those part-time workers in Hackney's office worked full-time, Tillis' payroll is still about 10 percent higher and his staff is larger.

The News & Observer obtained the information on all legislative staff salaries from public records requests. The information included base salaries, longevity pay, initial hire dates, the most recent changes in employment status, and pay cuts and raises.
 
I'm confused how Tillis claims his payroll is 15% less than his predecessor but the N&O claims it is 10% higher. That's a pretty big disparity and not accountable for by a margin of error.

Another thing I thought was pretty messed up is that state employees haven't received a raise in 3 years yet Tillis's staff received a raise. Granted, he did say that when he first took position about paying people who performed well. I just think it's absurd that these leaders find ways to give their employees raises when the rest of the government can't (which the article pointed out always happens regardless of party in power). I would be interested to see if the 3 year statement only refers to a lack of across the board raises and ignores individual raises state employees have received, which would make a huge difference in the interpretation of the importance of that fact.
 
DeacAlum2001 said:
I'm confused how Tillis claims his payroll is 15% less than his predecessor but the N&O claims it is 10% higher. That's a pretty big disparity and not accountable for by a margin of error.

Another thing I thought was pretty messed up is that state employees haven't received a raise in 3 years yet Tillis's staff received a raise. Granted, he did say that when he first took position about paying people who performed well. I just think it's absurd that these leaders find ways to give their employees raises when the rest of the government can't (which the article pointed out always happens regardless of party in power). I would be interested to see if the 3 year statement only refers to a lack of across the board raises and ignores individual raises state employees have received, which would make a huge difference in the interpretation of the importance of that fact.
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Not certain about the individual raises. My fiancée hasn't gotten a raise in three years (fourth year teacher making first year salary). As far as Tillis' claims Vs the N&O, I'm inclined to say Tillis is just bold faced lying. Even if I'm wrong and he isn't, it's still incredibly arrogant and a slap in the face to all state employees for him to pass a budget that will cost jobs and then immediately give his staff upwards of 27% in pay increases. That's just absurd.
 
Deadbolt said:
Not certain about the individual raises. My fiancée hasn't gotten a raise in three years (fourth year teacher making first year salary). As far as Tillis' claims Vs the N&O, I'm inclined to say Tillis is just bold faced lying. Even if I'm wrong and he isn't, it's still incredibly arrogant and a slap in the face to all state employees for him to pass a budget that will cost jobs and then immediately give his staff upwards of 27% in pay increases. That's just absurd.
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I'm in a similar boat. My fiancee is facing the very real prospect of losing her teaching job, which pays peanuts as it is, and meanwhile this guy is giving raises to already highly paid state employees.

As an aside, I had no idea employees of the speaker's staff were paid that well. If it flips to blue anytime soon, I may need to look into that.
 
Morally this country has lost its way. How can a politician, democrat or republican behave like this? There is no moral or ethical compass anymore, just people doing as much as they can get away with while "their" party is in power.
 
Ball State Deac said:
I'm in a similar boat. My fiancee is facing the very real prospect of losing her teaching job, which pays peanuts as it is, and meanwhile this guy is giving raises to already highly paid state employees.

As an aside, I had no idea employees of the speaker's staff were paid that well. If it flips to blue anytime soon, I may need to look into that.
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I find it difficult to get upset over teacher pay in NC. (And my wife was a teacher for 2 years) I mean, if teachers were in it for the money they'd clearly be doing something else. Teachers have always made low wages, this isn't new.
 
WhatUTalkinBout Willis said:
I find it difficult to get upset over teacher pay in NC. (And my wife was a teacher for 2 years) I mean, if teachers were in it for the money they'd clearly be doing something else. Teachers have always made low wages, this isn't new.
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I wasn't providing commentary, just a fact - she gets paid peanuts. Point being, she may lose her job, which would suck.
 
WhatUTalkinBout Willis said:
I find it difficult to get upset over teacher pay in NC. (And my wife was a teacher for 2 years) I mean, if teachers were in it for the money they'd clearly be doing something else. Teachers have always made low wages, this isn't new.
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How does that have anything to do with their or any other state employee getting a raise? Because it's a well known fact they are poorly compensated means they shouldn't care that they've gotten no pay increases while food and gas prices soar? Given Tillis' actions, they should be outraged.
 
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