State workers in line for raises, but will have to wait

JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri prison guards, child welfare workers and other members of the nation’s lowest paid state workforce will have to wait an additional six months to see larger paychecks under a budget plan approved by the Senate Wednesday.

Facing rising health care costs for state employees, the Senate voted unanimously to delay giving workers $700 per year raises until Jan. 1, 2019, rather than when the state’s fiscal year begins July 1.

Sen. Dan Brown, a Rolla Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it wouldn’t make sense to give workers raises if they were wiped out by an increase in health insurance premiums.

“If we do not do something about health care, then the premiums likely would increase twice as much as the pay raise,” Brown said. “I think we benefit every employee in the State of Missouri by this move.”

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/state-workers-in-line-for-raises-but-will-have-to/article_db203fe8-9cb8-5f0a-82e0-5e8563ebbbed.html