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Sunday, August 17, 2008
Ind. Gov't. - Still more on: "Indiana taxpayers contribute millions to lawmakers' generous pension plan"
The Indianapolis Star's editorial today focuses on legislators' remuneration, as did its stories on August 15 (see ILB entries here and here). Today's editorial begins:
Applause rang out far and wide in 2007 when the Indiana General Assembly made a deal with the taxpayers. Now that the ovation has died down, it's rather easy to see who got the better of the deal; and it's not us.Through a measure duly signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels, the lawmakers promised to strip the camouflage from their compensation by raising salaries while cutting fringe benefits.
They had not voted themselves a pay raise since 1989; yet the sums they were pocketing for their part-time service had quietly swollen thanks to health insurance and pensions far sweeter than other state employees and most Hoosiers in general received. Not to mention lavish expense accounts from the people of Indiana and virtually unchecked gifts from lobbyists.
In the face of public outrage, legislators in that 2007 session voted to eliminate the health-care perk and cut in half the taxpayer contribution to their pension plan beginning in 2009. In other words, each dollar a legislator invested would be matched with $2, not $4.
In exchange, the legislature would be "up front" about pay. It would nearly double the base salary -- to $20,700 a year -- and peg any future increases to 18 percent of what judges made.
It seemed reasonable, compared to what other states were paying. And anything that smacked of transparency was a refreshing departure for this august body, to say the least.
Alas, the more time passes, the less the state's most powerful public servants seem to have given away.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 17, 2008 09:58 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law | Legislative Benefits