The Joint Finance Committee today voted 12-4 along party lines to increase state employee compensation by over $700 million.
The GOP motion includes $344 million to boost the pay of Corrections officers amid high vacancy rates, especially among prison guards and sergeants at its maximum security prisons.
The plan would set aside money to bump starting wages for prison guards to $33 an hour, continue the current add-on bonuses and increase the add-on for security staff at maximum security prisons from $2 to $3 an hour. The plan also includes a provision that would provide parity for supervisors.
Other add-ons are:
*a $5-an-hour bump to prisons with combined officer and sergeant vacancy rates above 40 percent;
*a $3-an-hour add-on to all DOC correctional officers, sergeants or equivalent, including Lincoln Hills youth counselors, youth counselor-advanced and psychiatric care technicians; and
*a $1-an-hour add-on for staff at medium security facilities.
For state workers and employees at the UW System, the plan would provide funding for a 4 percent general wage increase in the first year and a 2 percent increase in the second year. Dem Gov. Tony Evers had proposed increases of 5 percent and 3 percent.
Rep. Tip McGuire underscored the need to increase wages for public workers, arguing nobody will want to move to or live in Wisconsin if the state can’t provide the services it promises because it can’t hire anyone.
“If you want to grow Wisconsin, we need to invest in the workers of Wisconsin,” the Kenosha Dem said.
Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, recognized Assembly Corrections Committee Chair Michael Schraa for making sure the GOP caucus understands the importance of funding corrections.
“These are major investments in public safety,” Born said. “It’s a top priority for the people of Wisconsin and a top priority for Republicans.”
Born added if nothing else, he hopes that DOC employees see that the $344 million investment shows JFC members recognize the importance of their work and the challenges within the correctional system.
