Growing number of well-paid state workers

As we hit the sixth week of the session, the budget continues to take center stage. My concerns were highlighted this week when the Lee Newspapers did a story that analyzed the growth of state employees in the past six years — 1,000 new employees.

This 8 percent increase has raised the total amount of state employees to just over 12,000. To magnify the problem, a related report shows that the average state employee salary has increased from $35,286 to $44,590, for an increase of 26.4 percent.

In six years, the average total compensation (salaries, insurance premiums and pensions) went from $47,626 to $61,663 for an increase of 29.5 percent. I believe that a merit-based pay plan is definitely needed.

During this time, of course, the Flathead's economy has struggled. We now have nearly 12.1 percent unemployment here, one of the highest in the state.

State government, of course, is funded by you and I — taxpayers. And that's my concern. It doesn't seem right that state government continues to grow while Montanans are struggling everyday to balance their checkbooks.

And that brings me back to our expanding state budget. We legislators are facing tough choices as we work to cut budgets this winter. The reality is that some programs are over-funded, and others will not get the funding that is needed. This is why we need to work towards zero-based budgeting and take a clear look at all the different accounts that make up our state budget.

Montanans are cutting back and our state government needs to do so as well. This session, I am working hard on making sure that we don't just pay lip service to the idea of our running a much more efficient and effective government at all levels.

Sen. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell, represents Senate District 4, urban Kalispell.