PHOENIX — The new Republican leaders of the Arizona Legislature hope to use part of a $1.1 billion state budget surplus to boost pay for corrections officers and state troopers.
Incoming House Speaker Rusty Bowers and incoming Senate President Karen Fann both said pay raises for those workers is a top priority when the Legislature opens its 2019 session next month.
The two leaders diverge on some other spending priorities for $900 million counted as "one-time" funds.
Fann wants to boost the state rainy day fund to ensure there is money to continue funding teacher raises if a recession hits.
Bowers is looking to use much of that cash to at least partially end an education "rollover" that sits at $930 million.
The budget trick is used to push funding into the following fiscal year.
