State Pay Raises Begin Today

Pay raise starts Tuesday for Oklahoma workers
By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — About 11,000 workers from 23 state agencies will be getting a boost in pay under one of 60 new laws taking effect Tuesday, the first day of the state’s 2015 fiscal year.

Many of the laws that take effect Tuesday are budget-related measures that direct various agencies to make certain expenditures. Among them is the omnibus general appropriations bill, which divvies up the state’s $7.1 billion budget.

Under the pay raise bill, workers at 23 state agencies will receive raises ranging from 6.25 percent to 8 percent. The bill targets the most underpaid state workers such as prison guards, social workers, nurses, case managers and workers at public safety agencies, according to a recent study on employee compensation.

“It’s great because there will be more money in my paycheck to help with the bills,” said Jess Callahan, a social worker and father of two from Choctaw County who earns about $31,000 annually. “We’re grateful to have anything at this point; it’s been such a long drought.”

Callahan says he hopes the extra $200 per month he will receive before taxes will allow him and his wife to put more money into college savings for his children.

Read the complete story from the AP.