Columnist: Legislators should take a pay cut

For the past two Sundays, Eric Heyl, a columnist for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, has been urging readers of the newspaper to clip a coupon at the end of his column and send it off to Harrisburg.

Heyl wants members of the Pennsylvania Legislature, among the highest paid in the nation, to take a 5 percent pay cut in light of the state's massive budget deficit, which is projected at $1.6 billion to $2 billion. (Nearly every member of the Legislature voted in favor of Gov. Ed Rendell's $28.3 billion budget despite warnings that it would bleed red ink before the fiscal year is out.)

While some lawmakers have volunteered to give back the 2.8 percent cost-of-living pay rise that kicked in Dec. 1, Heyl said they need to go further and take a salary cut.

The coupon reads as follows:

YES! I want more than political posturing from my elected state officials.

Quit patting yourselves on the back for not accepting your COLA and show people you're really willing to sacrifice. Take a 5 percent pay cut like your brethren lawmakers in Florida.

Then roll up your sleeves, get to work, and save the people you work for -- that would include me -- some real money.

Do I have your pledge that you will start by cutting some of the $300 million budgeted this year just to operate the state House and Senate?

I expect a response at your earliest convenience.

Heyl got the idea for the pay cut request after a reader informed him that Florida state legislators volunteered to reduce their salaries.

Florida legislators earn about $31,000 annually, Heyl writes. The base salary for Pennsylvania lawmakers is $78,315 if they accept the COLA, $76,313 if they decline it, Heyl says.Read Hey's initial column, "Send this coupon to your legislator," here.

Read Heyl's follow-up column, "Not too late to send this coupon to legislators," here.