So It Begins....

Coming Tuesday you'll see graphic evidence of the power of this year's COLA when you get your first paycheck with the pay increase. Given our state budget deficit, you might not see that again for a while. From the Olympian:

DeBolt and Alexander appeared to be split on whether cuts should include salary increases for teachers and state employees. Alexander says he believes Gov. Chris Gregoire’s contract negotiation for 2 percent yearly increases is reasonable.

But Alexander also wants to have fewer state employees and he’d like to see the state do contracting out of some services, something that was supposed to be part of the personnel reforms that created collective bargaining in 2002.

DeBolt said he is not yet sure if the state should consider freezing pay for state workers or teachers, which happened in 2003 when Dino Rossi was Senate budget writer. Rossi’s budget did include raises for the newest one-third of the teaching profession.

“Right now the most important thing we can do is be economically sensible. We need to make sure we don’t put any more burdens on the taxpayers of Washington. The money they make is a finite resource and we need to respect that,’’ DeBolt said.

I think we can all acknowledge that, as state employees, it's pretty apparent that the vicissitudes of the state budget process are always going to impact what we're paid. That said, increases in gas and health insurance are checking account killers.

What are your thoughts?