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Michigan legislative office budgets cut

 

Effect on House staffing levels uncertain: Senators to lose 1 position; pay cuts ahead

 

Paul Egan / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

 

Lansing— State senators will each lose one staffer Jan. 1 as a result of Legislature budget cuts, officials said Wednesday.

 

Cuts of about $1.4 million to the Senate budget approved this year mean each of the 38 senators will lose one "benefit package," generally resulting in

the staffing level falling from five to four, said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop.

 

 

A benefit package includes medical, dental, disability and life insurance coverage.

 

The value of the 38 benefit packages is just under $500,000, Marsden said.

 

Bishop, R-Rochester, did not push for the cuts but views them as a fact of life, Marsden said. Staffing in the majority leader's office has been down by

nearly five positions for more than two years, he said.

 

"It's a reality, and it's something that's happening in the private sector," he said.

 

"When the anger rises over politics, the first place people point is toward the Legislature."

 

A call to the office of Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, was not returned.

 

House office budgets also are cut, but how that will affect staffing levels in the New Year has not been determined, House business manager Tim Bowlin said.

 

The House received a $2.7 million budget cut for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

 

About half of the reduction has been absorbed by cuts, including staff reductions, already made and health care savings, Bowlin said.

 

Bowlin said he is waiting to meet with House leaders, likely next week, to determine how the rest of the savings will be realized.

 

Each of the 110 House members receives two staff benefit packages, a number that may or may not change depending on how the cuts are implemented, Bowlin

said.

 

Staffers in the Senate and House took the equivalent of a 3 percent pay cut as a result of recent retirement plan legislation.

 

The incoming governor and legislators will take 10 percent pay cuts effective Jan. 1, after the Legislature approved recommendations of the State Officers

Compensation Commission.

 

The governor's salary drops to $159,300 from $177,000, and legislators will see their pay reduced to $71,685 from $79,650, while their annual expense allowances

fall to $10,800 from $12,000.

 

The lieutenant governor's salary falls to $111,510 from $123,900, while pay for the attorney general and secretary of state falls to $112,000 from $124,900.

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http://www.detnews.com/article/20101111/POLITICS02/11110394/1024/POLITICS03/Michigan-legislative-office-budgets-cut