Gardiner: Raises not bonuses for state employees

• Gardiner is beginning to review Seminole compact agreement
• Senate President supports lifting ban on guns in committee meetings if Campus Carry is approved
• Dialogue on pay raises for state workers has begun

Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said Tuesday he would like to see legislators consider a state employee pay raise in the coming legislative session.

As part of his $79.3 billion budget proposal, Gov. Rick Scott has recommended a "performance incentive" bonus plan, but no across-the-board raises for the state workforce. Scott plans to allocate $125 million for one-time merit bonuses.  Gardiner met with Capitol reporters in his conference room and said raises ought to be on the table for budget discussion.

Gardiner said there has been some dialogue among Senators about it.The nearly 100,000 workers employed by the state have not had an across-the-board pay raise since 2006.

“There’s always hope,” said Gardiner. “We certainly are starting that dialogue when it comes to state employees.”

Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, represents about 30,000 state health workers, prison guards, health inspectors and office workers. He said Florida is losing employees and finding it hard to find qualified workers to replace them because of low pay.

“If you want government to run efficiently, like a business would run, then you have to have an adequate number of employees, good employees that quite frankly have to be well paid and treated fairly, said Montford.

There are 15,000 fewer state employees today than there were 10 years ago, while the state population has increased more than 2 million. Montford said lawmakers need to figure out how many state employees are needed to provide government services and then fund it in the state budget.

Lawmakers will begin working on next year’s state budget in January. They may have an unexpected windfall to help balance the budget in light of Gov. Rick Scott's Monday night announcement of a new gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe.

The agreement guarantees the state $3 billion over seven years and gives the Tribe exclusive rights to blackjack, craps and roulette at its casinos. Lawmakers need to approve the compact. Gardiner said he is inclined not to use the gambling compact money in a proposed budget until the Legislature approves it and sends it to Scott.

“I am not sure it would be responsible for us at this point to build a budget if you don’t know you are really going to get it,” said Gardiner. The Seminole deal increases the state’s annual take from over $200 million annually to more than 400 million and brings new games on line.

Gardiner said, although he is on record opposing gambling, he is also committed to the Senate’s right as an institution to decide the issue even if he happens to be on the losing side.

“The compact will come to the floor,” said Gardiner.

He also said if the Legislature approves the Campus Carry bill, allowing concealed weapon permit holders to carry guns on university campuses, then lawmakers should also permit hand guns in committee meetings in the Capitol building.

“If we are going down the road of eliminating exemptions, then at least for this building, that exemption should also be eliminated,” said Gardiner.  “If we don’t want to do that for other government entities that’s different, but I think we need to be consistent if we’re going to do that.”

The 2016 legislative session begins Jan. 12.