Hearing on raises for state officials generates no public participation

PROVIDENCE — On the morning after a messy snowstorm — with street parking banned, court calendars suspended and schools across the state cancelled or delayed — the Raimondo administration pushed ahead with a public hearing on pay raises for cabinet members.

As it turned out, no one from the public came to listen or comment on the proposed raises of up to $30,886 a year for three top-tier members of Gov. Gina Raimondo’s cabinet, each of whom currently makes less than the $135,008 paid the head of her public-relations squad.

The raises will hike the base pay of two men in Raimondo’s cabinet to $155,000 a year: State Labor Director Scott Jensen and newly confirmed Public Safety Director James Manni. Meanwhile, the pay of the female medical doctor who runs the Health Department, Dr. Nicole Alexander Scott, will increase to $140,000.

With the raises, the salaries paid the women serving as agency directors in the Raimondo administration will average $137,594 a year, and the men $160,381 a year.

Read more: https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190304/hearing-on-raises-for-state-officials-generates-no-public-participation