LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders proposed a $102 million overhaul of the state employee pay plan Tuesday, a change her office said would raise compensation for more than 14,000 state workers.

The Republican governor detailed the planned overhaul, which he said will be part of his balanced budget proposal to lawmakers later this month.

Sanders said the changes are aimed at bringing state employees up to comparable rates paid in the private sector and are aimed at positions facing chronic shortages, such as corrections officers, state troopers, nurses and social service workers.

“We’ve taken the existing pay plan down to its bars to rebuild a compensation system that rewards hard work and encourages Arkansans to apply for our hardest-to-fill positions,” Sanders said. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to advance this plan and achieve these long-overdue reforms for our state employees.”

About $60 million of the annual cost of the salary plan will come from general revenue, while the rest will come from other sources, such as savings from existing vacancies. Sanders said he asked agency heads to first look at funding the plan through their existing budgets.

The proposal also reduces the number of job titles from about 2,200 to just over 800. It also increases the number of pay scales to six.

The proposal comes as US public employers they fought fill jobs and raise wages to try to retain and attract workers amid competition from the private sector.

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