SALARY HIKES: NOT ALL LAWMAKERS IN MISSOURI SEE A NEED

Some Missouri lawmakers object to a plan that would raise their salaries 30 percent over the next two years.

But reaction to the overall pay plan is mixed. The Missouri Bar favors the plan because it would boost judges' salaries next year by 13 to 23 percent.

Judges statewide lobbied for pay raises.

Circuit Judge William Syler of Cape Girardeau said the salary recommendations are reasonable. "It still means our highest-paid judges in the state won't be paid as much as the lowest-paid federal judge," he said.

Charles Weiss, Missouri Bar president, said the pay hikes would go a long way in retaining and attracting good judges.

The plan also recommends a 6 percent pay hike for Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson, whose current salary is $62,997.

In all, the pay hikes would cost the state an estimated $8 million a year.

A 22-member citizens commission drafted the plan. Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1994 that set up the process.

The commission, formed this year, submitted its first pay plan last week.

The Missouri General Assembly can veto the plan but can't change it. It automatically takes effect July 1 unless state lawmakers reject it by Feb. 1.

The commission meets every two years to review and recommend salary changes.

State Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, proposed the salary commission two years ago as a way to take politics out of salary decisions.

Thomason said Tuesday that the idea is a sound one. But he said he was disappointed in the commission's pay-hike recommendation for legislators.

"If they had given us a modest increase, then I don't think anybody would have said anything about it," Thomason said.

"What they gave us was a very substantial increase," he said, "and it is more than I think most members of the General Assembly will be comfortable with."

The commission wants to raise legislators' salaries from $26,803 to $32,500 next year and to $35,000 by July 1, 1998.

Thomason said lawmakers likely will reject the pay plan because they don't feel such pay hikes are warranted.

But Thomason and other lawmakers said they should be paid more for expenses in the state capital.

Lawmakers currently receive $35 a day for food and lodging. The pay commission wants to raise it to $86 a day and tie it to the federal per diem rate, which is updated annually.

Since approval is an all or nothing affair, lawmakers can't get more money for expenses unless they accept the entire pay plan.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, objects to the whole pay process. He said putting pay hikes in the hands of a citizens committee means lawmakers don't have to be accountable for pay raises.

He also objects to the all-or-nothing approach of such pay plans.

Kinder said he doubted there is support in the legislature to raise judges' salaries.

Even if lawmakers reject this pay plan, there will be future pay plans, he said. "This commission is in business forever," said Kinder.

State Rep. Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville, isn't ready to tear up the plan. He is undecided how he would vote if an effort is made to scuttle the plan.

Naeger said lawmakers can't get lodging and meals in the state capital for $35 a day, so the per diem should be raised.

He said judges should be paid well. Whether they are imposing the death penalty or dissolving a marriage, their decisions affect people's lives, Naeger said. "We are not talking about some easy job."

Naeger said lawmakers should review the pay plan. The commission, he said, did its homework.

Naeger said some of his colleagues worry that a pay hike would encourage more people to run against them. "That won't bother me," he said.