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Utah lawmakers are investigating whether state agencies gave bonuses and raises to employees while the rest of state government was pinching pennies and cutting jobs.
Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said legislators have heard anecdotal cases in which agencies said they were giving perks unbeknownst to lawmakers. He said other agencies apparently had surpluses at the end of the budget year.
Lawmakers have cut more than $1 billion from the state budget over the past few years and the state workforce has been reduced by hundreds of full-time employees.
Waddoups said that the judicial branch and higher education are two areas that have been named. He said public education and natural resources may also fall into that category.
"It indicates that there still might be some tightening of the belt," Waddoups said. "There's still room for efficiency in government, and the Senate is digging into that in our appropriations process."
Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, co-chairman of the budget committee, said most of the reports are "kind of word-of-mouth."
"We'll check it out and see if it's true," he said.
Hillyard said he understands, philosophically, that if positions have been phased out and fewer workers are doing more work, management might be able to give bonuses.
"I'm personally not opposed to that," he said.