Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said Thursday he will return a pay raise he accepted last month, after state officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the raise was not intended for anyone holding statewide elected office.
The AJC reported Wednesday that Kemp was one of three top elected officials including state School Superintendent Richard Woods and Labor Commissioner Mark Butler who received 3 percent raises starting July 1, after the state allocated more payroll money to provide raises to 200,000 teachers and state employees.
The problem was that money was meant to be doled out only based on merit and not uniformly as cost-of-living adjustments. And while statewide elected officials such as the secretary of state are allowed to receive cost-of-living raises — increases to help keep up with inflation — they are not supposed to get merit increases.
Both Woods and Butler indicated they would rescind their raises when first contacted by the AJC. Kemp’s office, however, initially said Kemp did not authorize a merit-based increase for his salary and that a May 2 letter from the state Office of Planning and Budget had also discussed cost-of-living raises.
But Teresa MacCartney, the planning and budget director, said the letter made clear that the raises could "not be used for across-the-board cost-of-living adjustments."
A spokeswoman for Kemp said his office has since talked with the budget office and “decided to reverse the adjustment. Secretary Kemp will reimburse any associated funds.”
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