Tucson CitizenTucson Citizen

Our Endorsement: Now is not the time to give legislators a raise

There are several good reasons for giving a pay raise to Arizona legislators. But there is one huge reason not to: the plunging national and statewide economy.

Legislators make $24,000 per year – the same salary they’ve received since 1999. Proposition 300 would increase that to $30,000.

Let’s be honest: The cost of legislators’ salaries is minuscule. The total amount paid to lawmakers for a year wouldn’t run state prisons for a day.

Legislators’ pay makes up about 0.022 percent of the $10 billion state budget. Increasing it to $30,000 would make it about 0.027 percent. Big deal.

They deserve it. They work hard. They have to spend a lot of time in Phoenix. And increasing the pay might increase the pool of people willing to run for the job.

But there is a lot of symbolism at work. State employees are unlikely to get a raise next year as the state struggles with a deficit. Every spare dime left in ancillary funds or couch cushions will be grabbed.

This is not the time for legislators to get a raise. The Tucson Citizen urges a “no” vote on Prop. 300.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2

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