Salary Increases

Carroll County's interim schools superintendent will present a budget proposal tomorrow that covers unavoidable costs of increasing health and property insurance and new school openings as well as modest increases to keep up with growth. Even so, Charles I. Ecker's preliminary spending plan allocates more money than the school system is likely to receive from local, state and federal governments. "Right now, without any salary increases for any employees, it looks like we'll be about $1.5 million to $2 million more than the revenue we expect to receive," Ecker said.

The Howard County Board of Education approved yesterday an operating budget for the coming school year that includes no allowance for anticipated salary increases for teachers and other system employees but still is $20 million larger than this year's budget. Last month, Superintendent John R. O'Rourke requested $389.6 million to run the schools next year, excluding possible salary increases. He called the figure conservative, despite the 5.6 percent increase from the current year's spending levels.

Mayor Martin O'Malley is proposing hefty salary increases and boosting the potential pay for his top aides with the promise that his administration will deliver a better product for Baltimore. At today's Board of Estimates meeting, O'Malley will seek a $21,300 pay increase for Deputy Mayor Jeanne D. Hitchcock, who is responsible for the mayor's legislative agenda in Annapolis and on Capitol Hill, and an increase in the pay scale for all deputy mayors to a maximum $140,000. Currently, the mayor's top aides, classified as executive assistants to the mayor, can make between $88,000 and $108,700.

Being a worker isn't getting any easier. We're moving from traditional pensions to 401(k)s, full-scale health insurance to consumer-driven health plans and steady annual salary increases to one-time "pay for performance" bonuses and incentives. Base salaries are expected to increase about 3.9 percent on average in 2008, matching the average pay increase in 2007, according to a Towers Perrin survey of about 4,000 companies worldwide. Those results match a number of other salary-expectation surveys.

By increasing the size of her staff and providing salary bumps to dozens of employees, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has increased the payroll of the mayor's office by nearly 15 percent since taking office in January. Top Dixon administration officials and their aides - about 87 employees in all - are being paid nearly $5 million a year, according to an analysis of payroll data by The Sun. That is up a little more than $640,000 a year from the waning months of Martin O'Malley's mayoral administration.

The school board gave a public hearing on its proposed fiscal 1993 budget Tuesday night -- and fewer than a dozen citizens bothered to show up.It was the smallest turnout in recent memory. During the 75-minute presentation on Superintendent R. Edward Shilling's proposed $112.28 million package, the number of staff people overwhelmed the number of citizens, 4-to-1.Some interesting highlights:* Increasing the overall budget by $5.15 million.* Requesting $1.3 million less from the county.* Counting on an additional $6.1 million from the state Action Planfor Educational Excellence.

If members of the Baltimore City Council think the public doesn't know they voted themselves a raise, they are living in la-la land. Their vote not to reject a salary increase recommendation isn't fooling anyone. The question is: Why not just vote openly for a pay raise? An independent commission recommended the increases as called for in a new law designed to keep elected officials from setting their own pay raises (a good thing). The proposed raises for council members, council president, comptroller and mayor are in line with salaries in Philadelphia and Washington.

In rushing along approval for salary increases for top Columbia Association executives last week, the Columbia Council hoped to convince its paying constituents that it was merely heeding the adage, "You get what you pay for." Raising executive salaries makes it easier to compete for proficient staff, the council reasons.But the issue of staff compensation is about more than money. It is a flash point helping to kindle the argument that this largest of non-profit, homeowner associations in the nation hasn't a clue about fundamental principles of governance.

Maryland faces economic uncertainty, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Wednesday, but the state's innovations in green technology, health and cybersecurity leave it well-positioned to remain ahead of its peers. "Very few other states in the country have the edges we have now in innovation," O'Malley told more than 100 students and faculty members at Towson University in his first major address since winning re-election last week. "It's the thing that will allow us to be leaders. " Earlier in the day, analysts projected a $1.6 billion hole in the state budget, up from the $1.2 billion anticipated earlier in the fall.

Moving to address a looming teacher shortage, Gov. Parris N. Glendening is expected to propose today spending nearly $90 million over two years to bolster teacher salaries around Maryland, according to sources familiar with the plan. Glendening's initiative calls for a joint effort among the state and local jurisdictions that is designed to give teachers a 10 percent pay boost over the two-year period, sources said last night. The governor's proposal would mark the first time in at least three decades that state funds have gone directly to teacher salary increases, matters that are the subject of collective bargaining between local school systems and teacher unions.