Pay Raise For Board Of Public Works Moves Forward

West Virginia’s six constitutional officers may be getting a pay raise starting in January 2025. 

The salaries for the governor, the treasurer, the auditor, the secretary of state, the attorney general and the agriculture commissioner are all set in state code. 

House Bill 3135 aims to update those salaries. An amendment Friday would tie them to the salary schedules of the federal government which are periodically updated by the Office of Personnel Management. Currently, the governor salary is set at $150,000 per year. 

Under the amendment, the governor’s salary would relate to the salary table for locality pay area of “Rest US.” The salary would fall in grade 15 Step 10, which currently stands at $177,978. 

The other officers all have a salary of $95,000. Their salaries would relate to the salary table “general salary increase,” and would fall into Grade 15, Step 4 with a salary of $129,269. 

A number of Senators asked if they should refrain from voting on the bill since they might consider running for one of the impacted offices in the future. They were told to vote. 

The bill as amended passed the Senate and returns to the House to see if that body agrees.