By Ronald J. Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic | azcentral.com
Arizona’s state government is continuing its spending diet, with no pay raises and talk of an 18-month hiring freeze. But the belt-tightening hasn’t happened at the Legislature, where salaries of the roughly 300 staffers who assist lawmakers have collectively gone up $500,000 in the past year, financial records show.
Salary expenses for staffers at the House of Representatives rose 6.7 percent in a year. In the Senate, total pay climbed 1.6 percent, according to an Arizona Republic review of salary records. The salaries increased even as the number of workers stayed the same both years.
