By Stephen Smoot
“Our state employees are the ones who teach our children, fix our roads and bridges, guard our prisons, police our streets, and administer the programs thousands of West Virginians rely on. They enter public service not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of our people. They deserve to share in the positive results of our fiscal progress.”
So said West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey in a recent release proposing pay raises for all state employees.
After a hiatus in pay hikes in his first year due to budgetary concerns, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey proposes that the West Virginia State Legislature return to a regular function during the Jim Justice Administration, expanding the pay of state workers.
In March of 2023, upon signing a bill raising salaries, then-Governor Justice said “You remember way back when we did a 5% pay raise? It was the biggest pay raise percentage-wise in the history of the state,” Gov. Justice said. “We’ve done four of them now, and I hope to goodness before I’m gone, we’ll be able to do one more because I know the job you do. I know what you do. I know how hard you work every day.”
Last year, however, Governor Morrisey sounded the alarm that the State of West Virginia faced a structural long-term financial crisis. He undertook a program of frugality in addressing it that created friction in many areas during the first year of his administration.
With tax revenues consistently exceeding expectations, the Governor now feels more confident in extending the proposal to raise salaries.
Also according to the release, “the pay raises proposed by Governor Morrisey will apply to state employees who are funded through the general revenue budget, which includes the vast majority of state workers. This category covers teachers, State Police, corrections officers, and many other essential public servants.”
This echoes calls from other officials. West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack shared in a release from November that he “supported a teacher pay raise, proposing a minimum starting salary of $50,000 for all teachers. Those earning above this threshold would receive an additional $2,000, effective July 1, 2026.”
West Virginia pays public employees, including teachers, lower salaries in general than almost every other state. This statistic is often somewhat misleading because the Mountain State also has one of the lowest costs of living in the nation, while some of the most expensive places to live, such as bordering Northern Virginia and metro DC Maryland, pay some of the highest salaries, leading to different financial outcomes in many cases than one might otherwise expect.