Renegar Wants More Pay For State Employees

A measure that would offer massive tax incentives to a potential Oklahoma City NBA franchise today was met with resistance from a House member who feels legislators should instead focus on a state employee pay raise.

“State employees have only had two pay raises in the past seven years,” said Rep. Brian Renegar, D- McAlester. “Costs of living are skyrocketing for these dedicated public servants and the entire legislature seems to say ‘there isn’t enough money.’ I say there’s not enough money because of corporate welfare such as this.”

“I’m extremely disappointed that we decided to give big corporations and multi-millionaires a tax break today instead of helping working Oklahomans,” said Renegar.

At stake, according to Renegar, is a revision of the Quality Jobs Act which would grant the potential pro basketball franchise a 15 year break from state taxes, compared to the usual ten for other companies.

“We found out this week that this team’s ownership spent almost $400,000 to fund an ad campaign in Oklahoma City that granted them $120 million in tax money to relocate,” he said. When is enough, enough?”

Renegar said the measure is especially frustrating in light of the poor attention paid to state agencies and their employees.

“This state lost over $80 million last year in state employee turnover,” he said. “This happens because this state does not pay a decent wage for those who provide services to our taxpayers.”

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