Craig Ford: State employees deserve a pay raise, too!

  Alabama’s state employees are the unsung heroes who keep our state running. But they have also been neglected and left out for far too long. If Gov. Robert Bentley can find a way to give his cabinet and staff members 80 percent pay raises, surely we can find a way to give our state employees four percent!

  State employees – who do everything from law enforcement, handling child abuse and adoption cases, maintaining our roads and bridges, solving crimes in forensic labs, and hundreds of other jobs – have not received a pay increase in nearly a decade, even though the cost of living has shot up more than 10 percent.

Cameron Smith: Pension reform will protect state retirees and our financial future

  In January, the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) released its Comprehensive Annual Financial Reform (PDF) for the 2013 fiscal year. The report was received with little fanfare. During an election year, no politician wants to run afoul of the RSA and the billions it invests in Alabama.

  Unfortunately, this head-in-the-sand approach to public pension accountability is not working, and it will have painful consequences for Alabama’s future. While state politicians have made needed adjustments to the state retirement system over the last several years, they have left the defined benefit structure of the RSA intact.

Cameron Smith: "Last in, first out" rewards length of service over performance

  At the end of 2013, Governor Bentley outlined the results of his efforts to reduce cost and increase efficiency in state government. Bentley stated that Alabamians elected him and the Republican-controlled legislature to "make state government more efficient and live within our means without raising taxes or cutting essential services." Part of that effort included savings from "right-sizing" the state’s workforce. Unfortunately, the outdated personnel policy of "last-in, first-out," or "LIFO" means that Alabama’s reduced workforce may not necessarily be the best it could be.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The financial plague

  As the end of the year approaches the story of the year has to be the state of the economy. Therefore, the political story of the year has to be the sad financial state of the State.

  The legislature and governor spent 2012 wrestling with the state of the general fund of Alabama. It has been an uphill battle that will likely not dissipate or subside as we approach 2013.