State Budget Includes $233 Million For Raises

The Kentucky state budget includes $233 million to give raises to more than 136,000 state workers and teachers.

The raises vary from 5 percent to 1 percent for state workers and judicial employees in 2015, with the largest raises reserved for employees who make less than $27,000 a year.

In 2016, state workers would all receive a 1 percent raise.

The state’s 100,000 teachers and other school employees would all get a 2 percent raise in 2015 and a 1 percent raise in 2016.

The raises for state workers were first proposed by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and adopted by a House budget committee on Tuesday.

The judicial branch had asked for $16 million to give raises to its 3,300 nonelected employees. But state lawmakers budgeted $7.6 million.