Unlike the nearly 131,000 state workers who will begin swallowing a 5 percent reduction in their take-home pay beginning with checks issued at the end of the month, Gov. Gray Davis' Cabinet officials and other gubernatorial appointees' "voluntary" 5 percent pay cuts came to an end this month.

The state, in the absence of a budget, can't increase the pay of its workers, regardless of previously agreed-upon contracts, senior state officials ruled earlier this month.

Because workers' retirement payments were already programmed to increase by 5 percent this month, without the previously agreed-upon raise, workers will take a hit of that amount. The take-home pay of Davis appointees will be largely unaffected, however.
"I'm puzzled at the timing," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. "You don't stop this gesture until there is some positive development."

While he called the move "purely cosmetic," Coupal said it would have made more sense to wait -- at least -- for passage of a state budget.

Ed Riquelme, a state workers union activist, called the move "hypocrisy."

He said it further eroded state workers' trust of the administration.

With the budget picture growing bleaker by the day, Davis, in February, asked some gubernatorial appointees to "lead by example" by cutting their pay.

"These austerity measures should set the tone for all" in state government, Davis said in a Feb. 5 press release announcing the pay reduction and two other cost-cutting measures. "We need to lead by example and tighten our belts."

The Davis press release made no mention of an end date. However, an April release from the Controller's Office projected savings over the six-month period the rollback was expected to last.

Belt-tightening by the Democratic governor's senior staff saved the state more than $860,000, said Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean. Davis has also reduced his personal salary, a move that will continue, she said. The governor has saved the state more than $60,000 so far, McLean said. Three statewide elected officials and 17 lawmakers have taken pay cuts of their own, according the state controller's office.

"This administration took an aggressive, proactive step," said McLean. "The governor thought that it was important that his office lead the way."

McLean didn't defend ending the gesture. Rather, she pointed out that the appointees won't be taking home any additional money.

While gubernatorial appointees are seeing their salaries returned to their normal base pay levels, most state workers are fighting to keep union-negotiated pay increases.

With a budget deficit estimated at $38.2 billion, the state is seeking to slash $470 million to $855 million in payroll costs though salary rollbacks, layoffs -- up to 13,000 of them -- and other measures.

Jim Hard, director of the civil service division of the California State Employees Association, said he never thought much of the governor's pay-cutting move.

"It was an empty gesture in the first place," Hard said.

He said Davis and lawmakers should have made a more "serious" attempt to deal with the state's budget imbalance.

Coupal agreed with that thought, saying: "The problem is we just continue to bleed money."