State Employees To Get Bonus Under Budget Plan

Tuesday night, Governor Phil Bredesen proposed a three percent bonus for state employees. It would go to general workers , teachers and employees in higher education.

The bonus isn’t a pay raise – it’s a one-time payment and the state would be under no obligation to give it the following year. The governor says state workers deserve it.

“ I know our state employees are glad to be working, but they’ve been without raises since 2007, I’d like to recognize their dedication in some fashion.”

It is one place legislators can leave their own fingerprints. The money might be paid out, a little bit every payday, or it might be paid out at the end of the fiscal year.

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Equally significant is almost $82 million the state will pay into the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System. The state has had to make such a payment into the TCRS for many years, to make up for the fact that the retirement system isn’t actuarially funded. – there isn’t enough money in it now to pay the pensions of all the state employees who are due to retire.