The Missouri Senate has passed a 30 billion dollar state budget this week that includes a three-percent raise for state workers. Corrections workers would get another one-percent pay increase for every two years of service, not to exceed 20 years.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Hegeman of Cosby thinks the changes will be enough to retain longer-term employees.
The state’s prisons have been dealing with chronic staffing shortages – creating a lot of mandatory overtime at some institutions.
