How will state salaries and benefits change as budget takes effect?

The state budget that took effect Saturday will give teachers an average pay raise of 3.3 percent in the coming year, and will raise most other state employees’ pay by a flat $1,000.

Under the teacher pay plan, teachers with 17 to 24 years of experience would see some of the biggest raises. Starting teacher pay would remain at $35,000, but teachers at most experience levels would get a raise.

State lawmakers enacted the budget over a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper, who said he wanted larger teacher raises.

Here are some of the other ideas on pay and benefits that the N.C. General Assembly considered during more than five months in Raleigh, and where those ideas stood by the time state lawmakers adjourned early Friday morning. For even more, read our roundups of what happened on education, the environment, public safety, taxes, elections, conflicts between the branches of government and some of the other notable issues of session.

Retiree benefits

Under the new budget, state employees will receive a 1 percent, permanent cost-of-living increase in their pension checks – their first increase in years.

But future employees who go to work for the state beginning in January 2021 will no longer qualify for state health insurance when they retire, an effort to cut down on state government’s retirement costs.

Payroll dues deductions

State employee organizations, such as SEANC, would have been kept from using payroll deductions for their membership dues under a bill that passed the N.C. Senate in April.

Senate Bill 375 would have repealed a law allowing 13 workers’ groups to set up a payroll deduction system for members who choose that method to pay their dues. The bill never received a hearing in the House, which has typically been more friendly to the concerns of groups like SEANC.

This story was originally published July 1, 2017 at 4:13 PM with the headline "How will state salaries and benefits change as budget takes effect?."