State workers: We need a raise

State employees sent a deluge of comments asking lawmakers for higher pay to address high turnover and rising costs of living.

The Change in Employee Compensation Committee on Friday received an overview of the more than 1,700 responses seeking comment as the group prepares to make a recommendation to the state’s budget writers.

Human Resources Administrator Janelle White told members she recommends a 4% increase to employee salaries, or a $1.25 an hour increase, with discretion given to agencies to decide to implement either the percentage increase or dollar amount. She recommended a 5.5% increase for IT/engineering employees, which has a turnover rate of nearly 26%.

“When employees leave the state, it has a profound and lasting impact on the bottom line in our ability to deliver services,” White said. “The hidden cost of turnover is frequently overlooked, yet its consequences are very costly to the state.”

Statewide, the average turnover rate was around 19% last year, White said. She estimated that it cost roughly $301 million to replace 19.2% of Idaho’s state employee workforce.

In 2023, White presented to the committee a report detailing how far behind Idaho’s compensation was in comparison to the public and private sector and recommended greater increases for public safety, IT/engineering, and nursing and health care staff pay.

White recommended last week that lawmakers implement the IT/engineering salary structure improvement this coming session. She said the average market salary for these positions is around $36,000 more per year than the average state salary. Primary state employees who don’t fall into specialized categories fall about $22,250 behind the average market salary.

In fiscal year 2024, Idaho spent about 21% of the state budget on personnel at around $1.9 billion; the recommendation she provided would bring this total to about $2.3 billion, she said.

Alberto Gonzales, head of the Office of Information Technology Services, told the committee that state IT employees created the “backbone of our cybersecurity infrastructure.”

“I think not investing increases our chance of cyber attack,” he said.

Idaho State Police Director Col. Bill Gardiner told lawmakers that several regions in the state faced particularly high turnover and vacancy rates, such as near Lewiston. The district has eight vacant patrol positions, which leaves 13 current troopers patrolling a 13,000-square-mile area, he said.

Most of the public comment the committee received came from Idaho Transportation Department staff, with close to 350 respondents, as well as more than 150 responses each from Idaho State Police, Department of Health and Welfare, and Boise State University.

Many of the comments from ITD employees focused on high turnover and its impact on the workload of remaining employees, cost of living and the safety concerns of working near high-speed traffic. One Idaho Falls-based employee said their compensation of $25.12 an hour allows them to “meet basic living expenses,” but it “is increasingly inadequate to keep pace with the growing costs of housing, fuel and groceries.” The employee also underscored the risk of working near traffic traveling 80 mph.

A North Idaho state trooper who’s been with the agency for 15 years said they have seen the housing market skyrocket and the impact that has had on recruitment and retention in the area.​​

“I’ve observed Troopers work long shifts covering crashes, arrests, pursuits, and other heinous acts which changes a person’s life, only to return to their small camper parked on someone else’s property because that’s all they could afford based off the provided wage,” the trooper wrote.

The long-time officer asked lawmakers to consider existing employees when changing the structure to avoid pay compression — in which new hires in a competitive market end up making more than, or nearly as much as, longstanding employees.

The state’s retirement and health plans are often touted as a recruitment tool, but aren’t as highly regarded, comments indicated.

“While benefits are valued, employees feel they no longer sufficiently offset the low wages or the competitive advantage compared to private sector jobs,” legislative Budget and Policy Analyst Frances Lippitt said.

Costs related to inflation came up on 381 of the responses, Lippitt said.

A number of emailed comments mentioned the approximately $5,000 pay bump for legislators recommended by the Citizens’ Committee on Legislative Compensation in November, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. The citizens’ committee does not include legislators, but the Legislature may reject or reduce the recommended rates by concurrent resolution.

“I advocate that all state employees get paid appropriately, to meet the cost of living,” one health department employee wrote. “I also assert that if the state legislature wants a raise, that the same raise should apply to every state employee. Otherwise, if the legislators truly want to be leaders, they have no right to a raise until state staff meet the cost of living.”

The committee did not make a decision last week and is scheduled to meet again Jan. 7 and Jan. 9.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.