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Gov. Tate Reeves has allowed large pay raises for statewide elected officials — including the governor — to pass into law without his signature amid his vetoing a handful of other measures.
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Starting in 2024, after the next election, Mississippi’s statewide elected officials will see pay increases ranging from $25,000 a year to $60,000 a year, or 22% to 67% increases. The governor’s salary will increase 31%, from $122,160 to $160,000. Lawmakers, with some debate, passed the salary increases at the end of this year’s legislative session. A proposal to raise legislators’ pay died.
Lawmakers this session passed a raise in teachers’ pay that averages $5,140, increasing starting teacher pay from $37,123 to $41,638.
Mississippi’s median household income is $45,081 a year — the lowest in the country.
The increases for statewide elected and other officials taking effect in 2024 are:
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The lieutenant governor and House speaker’s salaries will increase from $60,000 a year to $85,000 a year under the new law.
Reeves did not comment on the pay raises. But in a social media post on why he vetoed lawmakers’ spending $50 million on upgrades at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Reeves said: “It is important to ensure that your money is invested wisely: based on creating value for you. This is the first of several spending vetoes that we will share and answer questions on in the coming days.”
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by Geoff Pender, Mississippi Today
April 27, 2022
This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2022/04/27/reeves-lets-pay-raises-for-elected-officials-pass/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1028289&ga=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;">
Geoff Pender serves as senior political reporter, working closely with Mississippi Today leadership on editorial strategy and investigations. Pender brings 30 years of political and government reporting experience to Mississippi Today. He was political and investigative editor at the Clarion Ledger, where he also penned a popular political column. He previously served as an investigative reporter and political editor at the Sun Herald, where he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team for Hurricane Katrina coverage. Originally from Florence, Mississippi, Pender is a journalism graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and has received numerous awards throughout his career for reporting, columns and freedom of information efforts.
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