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Idaho worker raises stall in budget committee

The dome of the Idaho Statehouse at sunset with an American flag and Idaho flag.
James Dawson
/
Boise State Public Radio

Raises for state employees are up in the air after lawmakers on the budget writing Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee deadlocked on two proposals Thursday.

About $4.4 million separates the two ideas, but the intention behind them is what really sets them apart.

Sen. Kevin Cook (R-Idaho Falls) calls for a 4% merit-based raise, which would proportionately favor higher income earners.

Those highly skilled employees, Cook said, are fleeing government cubicles to earn far more money in the private sector and need to be incentivized to stay.

He also compared the competing proposal – a $1.55 per hour across-the-board raise – to participation trophies and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“This committee has worked hard to get rid of equity,” Cook said. “Equity breeds entitlement. That’s what equity does. Merit breeds excellence, high standards and innovation.”

He specifically cited agency directors, engineers at the Idaho Transportation Department and doctors at the state mental hospitals as those deserving a larger raise compared to another early-career worker who “[makes] no decisions.”

Instead, Cook said a flat raise rewards those who show up late and leave early.

“They’re not trying any harder, they’re not working hard. They’re just standing in line, marching to the cadence and saying, ‘This is what I’ve got to do to get my job done and to get my pay.”

Cook’s measure would cost $88.6 million compared to $93 million for a flat raise.

That proposal would be at least a 5% raise for state employees earning less than $64,500 annually.

Proponents, like Rep. James Petzke (R-Meridian), said it simply helps workers cope with inflation.

“We’re trying to offset the cost of living increase that Idaho’s employees have been dealing with and I think the cost of eggs has gone up for everybody,” Petzke said.

As previously reported, Idaho state employees’ total compensation lags far behind both public and private industry.

The latest data from an Idaho Department of Human Resources labor market study show state workers here, on average, earn 15.1% less than the median wage of public and private sector employees in the region.

The difference is even more stark when comparing base wages, which are 25.1% less than median public and private employers regionally.

After more than an hour of debate JFAC members shelved the issue. They’ll return to it later this session.

Copyright 2025 Boise State Public Radio

I cover politics and a bit of everything else for Boise State Public Radio. Outside of public meetings, you can find me fly fishing, making cool things out of leather or watching the Seattle Mariners' latest rebuilding season.

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