Another Noem Flip-Flop: Now We Can Use One-Time Money to Raise Prison Pay

A week and a half ago, Governor Kristi Noem told disgruntled state penitentiary workers that she can’t raise their pay with one-time money (“…salary policy has to be ongoing revenue… and I need to know that that revenue is going to be there every single year, too”). But now, like the CDC that she so eagerly criticizes, Noem has changed her mind and is offering Corrections staff temporary pay hikes with one-time rejiggering of the prison budget:

According to an email from Interim Secretary of Corrections Tim Reisch, which was obtained by the Dakota News Now I-Team, correctional employees could qualify for three pay enhancements:

• Night shift employees will receive an additional $1.50 per hour differential, on top of the existing weekend and other differentials.
• Employees who volunteer for shifts through mandatory needs or call-ins will be paid double-time.
• All current employees will be eligible for up to four retention bonus payments totalling $2500 if they remain employed through April 1, 2022. New employees will be eligible for smaller bonuses based on their start date.

According to the email, these pay increases will end on March 23, 2022.

Reisch said in the letter that these short-term changes will work within the existing corrections budget. The governor and legislature must still work to find long-term solutions [staff, “South Dakota Prison Workers to Receive Temporary Raises and Bonuses,” KSFY, 2021.07.30].

It’s good to see that the Governor has come around to my way of thinking. We have the money these first-step compensation boosts and much more. There’s no law saying we can’t use one-time money to pay state workers more right now while we work on a long-term plan to ensure fair, competitive wages.

Real money is a big part of the problem in Corrections and throughout our state workforce. Now that Governor Noem has changed her mind on this pay issue, let’s see if we can convince her to change her mind on the health benefits she cut for state workers this spring.

And don’t forget, the still-anonymous complaint attributed to Corrections workers also cited concerns about nepotism and sexual harassment. Governor Noem has yet to offer any solution to those problems.