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LITTLE ROCK—The head of Arkansas’ personnel office and legislative researchers said Tuesday the state should enact a $46.7 million overhaul of the way state employees are paid to help cut down on turnover among entry-level workers.

Kay Barnhill Terry, state personnel administrator, said she would ask the Legislature next year for $20.6 million from general revenue to enact recommended changes in the pay scale for about 35,000 state workers. Terry and Andrew Bass of the Bureau of Legislative Research detailed the recommendations to a legislative panel Tuesday.

A state law approved last year required the Office of Personnel Management to submit recommendations on employees’ salaries to lawmakers in time for this fall’s budget hearings. Legislators and state officials have said they’re concerned that entry-level workers are quickly leaving their positions for more lucrative private sector jobs.

“This will help offset so many inequities,” Terry told the personnel subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.

The proposal will increase the number of pay grades for state employees from 26 to 30 and will create a second pay plan for professionals and executives. The professional and executive pay plan will include many high-level state employees whose pay is set by the Legislature, Terry said.

The plan will also boost the overall range for classified state employees, which now starts at $13,243 for entry level employees at the lowest grade to $83,708 for the most experienced employees at the highest grade. Under the new plan, entry level employees would receive $15,080 and the most experienced employees at the highest grade would receive $96,212.

The remaining $26.1 million for the proposed changes would come from cash fund agencies and federal positions, Terry said.

Each pay grade under the career service plan will include five pay levels, from entry to career levels. The career level in each grade was established to recognize long-serving employees and is 8 percent higher than the second-highest pay level, maximum.