State employees would receive up to a 3 percent pay increase under a plan outlined by Lt. Governor candidate Delbert Hosemann who was in Clarksdale this week.
The raise would be funded by saving 1 percent in administrative and overhead expenses in almost every State agency. Education, mental health, child protective services, corrections and district attorneys/trial judges would be exempt.
Hosemann was on the campaign trail in the Mississippi Delta this week and shared a meal with the Clarksdale Rotary Club at noon Tuesday. Hoseman also stopped by the offices of the Clarksdale Press Register to discuss education issues facing the community and the state.
“We are not talking about cutting personnel or services; we are talking finding efficiencies,” said Hosemann, who is currently serving as Secretary of State. “Our State employees are underpaid, making it difficult to attract and retain workers. We need to send savings realized home in our employees’ paychecks.”
In the 2019 Legislative Session, legislators authorized their first across-the-board raise for employees in several years. The raise was intended to move positions closer to the relevant market rate, so employees received either a position realignment amount, if the amount to reach market rate was less than 3 percent, or a 3 percent increase.
Hosemann’s plan would repeat this approach.
Similar proposals in other states have reaped more than anticipated savings.
“Our state employers deserve a well-earned raise” Hosemann said.
Hosemann, a native of Vicksburg, was elected Secretary of State in November 2007 and has been re-elected to the post twice.
He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1969 from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. In 1972, he earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. In 1973, he obtained specialization in Taxation at New York University. Hosemann currently lives in Jackson, where he is a partner with Phelps Dunbar LLP.
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