thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

NASHVILLE — While faced with a continuing state budget crunch that likely will mean laying off state employees, Tennessee legislators have received a $14-a-day increase in their compensation for expenses.

Some legislators said they are surprised about the 8.1 increase, which took effect when the federal government's new fiscal year started. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports the expense payments automatically increased Oct. 1 from $171 to $185. Lawmakers get the payments for food and lodging costs while away from their home districts on official business.

State Rep. Robert Ramsey, R-Maryville, said he is not sure that the raise is warranted.

"I didn't know anything about it, but I have not requested it," he said. "I think probably in the face of the economic situation, I don't know if that's prudent or not. I don't know who requested it, I don't know where it came from or the justification for it.

"I feel like most of the legislators and members of the General Assembly are willing to share in the sacrifice that the citizens of Tennessee are having to make in these economic times."

After an initial conversation with The Daily Times on Wednesday, Ramsey spoke with Legislative Office of Administration director Connie Ridley and discovered that the General Assembly's per diem is based on the federal reimbursement rate for the Nashville area and those rates went up in October.

"It's not something we voted on, thank goodness," he said. "It can go up or down a couple times a years. We try to be as prudent as possible about asking for these expenses."

State Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, also expressed surprised.

"I don't see how the per diem went up when the economy is going down," he said, adding, however, that the General Assembly had tied the rate to the federal rate several years ago.

"You've got to have some sort of benchmark," McCord said. "Several years ago that was tied to the federal per diem rates. That is the same thing that most businesses do as well."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.