Cutbacks forces salary commission to seek funding elsewhere

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's Legislature and judiciary each have rejected requests to help pay the expenses of a panel that recommends salaries for lawmakers and judges.

The Senate, House and the Office of State Courts Administrator have turned down requests to pay between $3,500 and $4,000 each to support the Missouri Citizens' Commission for Elected Officials.

The 22-member commission was created by voters in 1994 to recommend pay raises for lawmakers, judges and statewide officials like the governor. But past recommendations have not been embraced by the Legislature, which appropriates money for salaries.

In the past, as much as $25,000 has been set aside to pay the commission's expenses.

Two years ago, expenses for the commission totaled around $17,000 and officials were seeking between $14,000 and $15,000 this year.

But tight finances forced officials to leave the commission out of this year's budget.

So the Office of Administration recently asked the Legislature and judiciary to take money from their own budgets to fund the commission.

"We simply called and asked if they were interested. They are not," Mark Reading, the budget staff member overseeing the commission funding, said Wednesday. Statewide officials were not approached about providing the funding from their office budgets, he said.

Under the Missouri Constitution, the commission is required to meet every two years, which means someone will have to pay the bill.

Reading said it remains unclear where the state will get the money for the commission's expenses when it meets this fall.

David Coplen, the budget director for court administration, said providing money could have given the impression that judges were trying to get a favorable salary recommendation.

"It's the perception of impropriety that must be avoided at all costs, and I think the code of ethics for the judges speaks to that very issue," Coplen said.

On Tuesday, the Senate Administration Committee also voted against providing money to the commission, which has been criticized by some lawmakers.