McKee is seeking raises of up to $75K for his Cabinet. Who's in line for the biggest hike?

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Dan McKee is proposing raises of up to $75,000 a year for top members of his Cabinet, with the largest proposed raise going to the state's next – and yet-to-be-announced – state health director and a more modest raise for his embattled state transportation chief, Peter Alviti.

With the interim state health director, Utpala Bandy, retiring at the end of this month, the governor is proposing to raise the base salary for the job from $175,383 to $250,000. At last report, his team had interviewed two candidates for the unadvertised job but had not yet settled on a pick.

McKee is also proposing a hefty raise for Health & Human Services Secretary Richard Charest, whose salary would rise from $182,684 to $238,597.

Percentage wise, Commerce Secretary Elizabeth Tanner's raise is not as big, but her salary would rise a notch, from $224,653 to the same $238,597 level as the Health & Human Services secretary, who presides over multiple big agencies with big budgets that reach tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders in need.

And these are not the only proposed raises that will be aired at a public hearing conducted by an arm of the Department of Administration on March 19.

Amid the controversy over what happened that required the abrupt closing – and potential teardown and $200 million to $250 million rebuild – of the westbound span of the Washington Bridge, Transportation Director Alviti would also get a boost, from $182,684 to $188,164.

If approved, the base salaries for the directors of the departments of Administration would rise from $180,184 to $185,589.52; Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, from $170,237 to $175,344.11; Corrections, from $169,508 to $174,593.24; Children, Youth & Families, from $180,000 to $185,400; Environmental Management, from $162,737 to $167,619.11; Labor & Training, from $168,459 to $173,512.77; Revenue, from $159,188 to $163,963.64; Transportation, from $182,684 to $188,164.52; and Public Safety, from $180,959 to $195,000.

The McKee administration has not yet made public the rationale for raises of this magnitude, including the salaries that other states pay their appointees in comparable positions.

But in keeping with tradition and law, Democrat McKee unveiled his latest pay package during the month of March, and it is the latest in a year-after-year series of incremental raises he has initiated – and approved – for the heads of state agencies.

The directors of the Departments of Human Services, Business Regulation and Housing "are not included on the agenda because their present salaries were deemed competitive," administration spokeswoman Christina O'Reilly told The Journal.

These are their "base salaries," which do not in all cases reflect what they are paid: DHS Director Kimberly Merolla-Brito base salary $160,473 (actual salary $180,042, according to the state's transparency portal); DBR Director Elizabeth Dwyer, $162,737; Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor, $238,597.

Following the hearing on the proposed raises for the otehr cabinet members, the pay package will be "referred to the General Assembly and will become effective 30 days [later] unless rejected by formal action of the House and Senate acting concurrently."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI governor seeks raises of up to $75,000 for state department heads