Vermont delegation rewarded staffers with $236,830 of taxpayer money in bonuses
by Nicole Gaudiano, Free Press Washington Writer Jan. 16, 2012
burlingtonfreepress.com
Bonus breakdown Vermont’s congressional lawmakers gave year-end bonuses to their staffs last year but still had money left over in their office budgets to return to the Treasury.
Bonuses
Sen. Patrick Leahy: $138,830
Sen. Bernie Sanders: $64,000
Rep. Peter Welch: $34,000
Unspent money being returned to the Treasury
Leahy: At least $350,000, 11.7 percent of his budget.
Sanders: About $326,000, 10.9 percent of his budget.
Welch: About $140,500, 9.8 percent of his budget.
Office allowance last year
Leahy: $2,994,122 (fiscal 2011)
Sanders: $2,994,122 (fiscal 2011)
Welch: $1,430,078 (2011 calendar year)
— Gannett
WASHINGTON — As demands for fiscal austerity dominated debate in Washington, Vermont’s three congressional lawmakers gave their staffers a combined $236,830 in bonuses last year.
Many other congressional lawmakers also rewarded staffers with year-end bonuses, and the Vermont lawmakers found other ways to save. Each will return a significant amount of unspent office money — about 10 percent of their budgets — to the federal government.
The Vermont lawmakers saw the bonuses as a way to reward hard-working staffers, many of whom earn much less than they would in the private sector.
Michael Briggs, a spokesman for independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “We have an extremely hard-working and aggressive staff that puts in long hours and (Sanders) could hire more people but does not. That’s how he’s able to give back to the taxpayers the amount that he does at the end of the fiscal year.”
Of the three lawmakers, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, gave the most in bonuses. Twenty-nine of his personal office staffers received bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 last year, totaling $138,830. Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, also gave bonuses to 25 committee staffers, totaling $112,048.
Leahy’s spokesman, David Carle, said many other lawmakers use Leahy’s office salary structure “because it is flexible and fair and rewards good work.”
Sanders gave $2,000 bonuses to 32 people on his personal staff, totaling $64,000. He also gave $2,000 bonuses to two staffers on the Senate health subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, which he chairs.
Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat, gave each of his 17 staffers a $2,000 bonus, totaling $34,000. House office budgets are authorized by calendar year and Senate office budgets are authorized by fiscal year.
“Staff bonuses for 2011 were awarded in recognition of outstanding performances, especially in ensuring that Vermont has the resources it needs to recover from (Tropical Storm) Irene,” said Welch’s spokesman, Scott Coriell.
Lawmakers have the discretion to decide whether to give bonuses, and most do. A 2010 House Compensation Study by ICF International found that 77 percent of 133 offices surveyed gave bonuses that year. That’s down from 89 percent in 2009 and 92.3 percent in 2006, according to the study, produced for the House Chief Administrative Office.
Each of Vermont’s lawmakers has given bonuses in previous years.
Many lawmakers give bonuses out of concern employees aren’t being competitively paid, said Pete Sepp, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union. Sepp said his organization isn’t opposed to the practice.
“But we do believe that in times like these, lawmakers simply have to weigh the necessity for paying competitively with the necessity of deficit reduction as well as setting an example for their constituents,” he said.
The Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit that advises lawmakers on congressional operations, recommends giving staffers bonuses, said Bradford Fitch, the group’s CEO.
“It still is extremely helpful to managing an office,” he said. “Especially when you take into consideration that, in general, congressional staff get anywhere from 20 to 30 percent less pay than counterparts with similar experience and education in the private sector. Bonuses are one of the ways that they can compensate for that.”
The bonuses come from lawmakers’ annual allowance for staff, travel, office space, supplies, travel and other office expenses. Unspent funds are held for a period of time and then returned to the U.S. Treasury.
Leahy will return at least $350,000 to the federal government for fiscal 2011, Carle said. That’s 11.7 percent of his personal office budget of nearly $3 million.
He is also returning more than $2 million in fiscal 2011 funds on behalf of the Judiciary Committee, including Republicans and Democrats, as he did the last two years.
Sanders, whose personal office budget was the same as Leahy’s, expects to return about $326,000, or 10.9 percent of his fiscal 2011 allowance. He has returned more than $1.5 million in unspent office funds between taking office in 2007 and fiscal 2010, according to Briggs.
Though Welch represents the entire state as its lone congressman, his 2011 allowance of about $1.43 million is less than half of what Vermont senators got. But after the bonuses, he expects to return about $140,500, or 9.8 percent of his budget, to the Treasury.
Both House members and senators have had to reduce their office budgets. House members cut 5 percent from their allowance in 2011 and another 6.4 percent this year. Senate office budgets were reduced by 3 percent in fiscal 2011 and this year, and Senate committee budgets were cut by 6.3 percent this year.
While many House offices found the 2011 cuts manageable, some House chiefs of staff say the cumulative effect of two years of cuts will require most offices to make “painful” reductions, according to Congressional Management Foundation research involving staff from more than 90 House offices.
House offices are considering reducing staff through attrition, eliminating bonuses and freezing pay, according to the CMF report.
Vermont lawmakers support the cuts to office budgets, according to their staffs. They aren’t certain if they’ll give bonuses this year.
“Bonuses are based on job performance, and (Leahy) will continue to make those decisions well within the fixed budgets allocated to his office,” Carle said.
Briggs said Sanders will continue operating “well within the budget” for Senate offices.
Coriell said Welch’s staff is currently reviewing the 2012 budget to determine what they can cut.
“Vermonters continue to struggle with a difficult economy as well as the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, so we want to make sure that our office remains highly responsive to their requests for assistance,” Coriell said. |
