Raises Approved For Del. State Employees, Retirees

Members of the Delaware General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee have approved pay increases for state workers and retirees.
State employees on the lower end of the pay scale could receive raises of up to 9%. Raises are at least 2.3%. Education employees would receive a 2% increase.
Also, state pensioners would receive an increase of 2-to-3%, depending on when they retired. All state workers, educators, part-time employees and retirees also would receive a one-time bonus of $500, which is above Governor John Carney’s recommendation.
The JFC is devoting this week to what’s known as budget mark-up. The compensation package would be part of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget that must be voted on by the full General Assembly.

“We owe it to our dedicated state workers – many whom worked through the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic – to compensate them fairly and offer meaningful opportunities for career advancement. We’re fortunate this year to be able to not only give a good across-the-board raise, but we’re targeting working Delawareans who most need a raise,” Representative William Carson, D-Smyrna area , Joint Finance Committee Vice Chair said. “The cost of goods and services have been increasing rapidly, forcing working families to make tough decisions that no one should have make. By using a sliding scale for raises, we are ensuring all employees receive a raise, but we’re preventing those on the lower end of the pay scale from falling further behind.”

“An investment in our state workforce is an investment in the critical services our communities depend on,” JFC chair Senator Trey Paradee, D-Dover said. “Over the winter, nearly every department of state government rang the alarm about their struggles with staff shortages due at least in part to state salaries coming in at below market rate. As we compete for human infrastructure with major corporations in the area, we need to remain competitive if we are going to hope to maintain the level of services our state provides at its current level. The operating budget we are crafting this week is not the final investment in our state workforce that needs to be made, but it is a strong step in the right direction.”