NASHVILLE – State employees will not receive a one-time pay supplement that officials promised instead of a pay raise because state revenues did not improve enough.
Tennessee Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz told department and agency leaders on Friday that revenues failed to reach the target the state legislature set as the prerequisite for the one-time longevity pay supplement.
The supplement would have been $50 per year of service, with a minimum of $150 for employees with one to three years of service and a maximum of $1,250.
In a memo obtained by The Commercial Appeal, Goetz said that revenue collections were $39.5 million less than budgeted estimates. Under the specifications in an appropriations bill approved in June, employees would have been paid this month if the state revenue for fiscal year 2009-2010 exceeded state budget estimates by $50 million.
The supplemental would have gone to 47,000 state employees, employees of the state’s public higher education system and to licensed personnel in local public school districts.
This does not affect state employees’ regular annual longevity pay supplement of $100 per year of service.