For the first time in 10 years, classified employees are looking at the possibility they may not get a salary increase. And they’re not staying quiet about it.

“Now you come to a period of fiscal crisis in the state, and we’re trying to balance the budget on the backs of state employees,” said Mike Auchard, a maintenance em-ployee and president of Kansas University’s Classified Senate.

Auchard is one of about 2,000 classified employees at KU. There are about 40,000 at all state agencies.

Classified employees are state civil service workers. They include janitors, secretaries and maintenance workers. Unlike faculty and administrators, their pay is set by the Legislature.

According to the Central States Compensation Assn., which ranks wages in most states except those on the coasts, Kansas’ average classified salaries rank 18th out of 24. In Kansas, the average salary was $30,074, compared with $35,208 for the other states.

Proposed budgets for next year don’t include pay increases for classified employees. In fact, proposed furloughs could reduce some salaries.

It would be the first time since 1992 that classified salaries didn’t get an annual increase. Pay increases for unclassified employees and faculty members also are unlikely to rise next year.

“Some people say why don’t you leave?” custodial supervisor Dennis Constance said. “That’s easier said than done. By the time this creeps in, you’ve got roots and a family. Why should you have to relocate the rest of your life just to get a decent wage?”

KU’s Classified Senate has been sending bulletins to legislators advocating salary increases. One notes that starting wages for 24 percent of state classified employees are below the federal poverty line.

Auchard blamed low wages on tax cuts during times of prosperity.

“Instead of investing money in the state, they cut the tax rate,” he said of the governor and legislators. “In essence, they bribed their constituents to vote for them. The state legislators paid for their elections with our salaries.”

Thelma Simons, president-elect of KU’s Unclassified Professional Staff Assn., said her group, too, was keeping a close eye on the final days of the Legislature.

“We don’t expect any pay raises,” said Simons, special project manager for academic computing services. “It definitely hurts morale. It definitely hurts recruitment and retention. UPSA are professional staff, and a lot of them could go to the corporate world and make more money.”