GOVERNOR'S SALARY COMMISSION
The salary and benefit explanations are excerpted from the Report of the Governor's
Salary Commission issued in January 1994. The Commission recommended that
there be no increase in the current salaries of the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor.
IV. SALARY DETERMINATIONS
The Commission reviewed salary and related information summarized in earlier
parts of this report. Applying the compensation principles outlined earlier, the
Commission recommends the following salaries:
Governor $120,000
Lieutenant Governor $100,000
The Commission, pursuant to a request from the Governor, also suggests that the
salaries of the Attorney General, Comptroller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State not be
increased. As the Commission considered the Lieutenant Governor's and other
constitutional officers' salaries together, Treasurer Maurer did not participate in these
salary determinations.
The Commission offers the following rationale for these determinations.
Governor's Salary
The Commission recommended not to increase the salary of the Governor because
it felt that the increase provided the Governor for the 1990 - 1994 term of office was quite
substantial. The Commission also felt that a number of the assumptions made by the prior
Commission with regards to the relationship of the salary of the Governor to other
elected officials in state government, cabinet officials, the judiciary, local elected officials,
and governors of other states had not changed substantially enough to warrant increasing
the Governor's salary. In addition, this Commission did not agree with the prior
Commission that the Governor should be paid more than all of the appointed cabinet
officials.
The Commission discussed the idea of giving the Governor annual salary increases
that were tied to the federal consumer price index. The Commission decided against
taking this approach. The Commission noted that the next Commission would have to
closely examine the relationship between the Governor's salary and that of elected and
appointed state and local officials as it would not have changed for two consecutive terms.
Lieutenant Governor's Salary
As the Commission recommended against increasing the salary of the Governor for
the reasons stated above it did not believe that it would be appropriate to increase the
salary of the Lieutenant Governor.
Constitutional Officers' Salaries
As the Commission recommended against increasing the salary of the Governor and
Lieutenant Governor for the reasons stated above it did not believe that it would be
appropriate to increase the salary of the other constitutional officers.
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