by KYW's Tony Romeo

At a time when the state is hurtling toward a billion-dollar plus deficit, Pennsylvania lawmakers and judges are line for a cost-of-living pay raise totaling almost three-percent.

The automatic cost-of-living pay raises, or “colas”, determined annually by an inflation index, will be 2.8-percent.

State legislators will get the increase on December 1st, while judges get it on January 1st. Lieutenant governor Joe Scarnati, who’s also the top-ranking Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate, says foregoing the pay raise for lawmakers might be something for the General Assembly to consider, given the widening state budget gap:

“It’s a popular notion – the legislators should do without their "colas" and we should cut a lot of fat here. And as I said – I’ll repeat it one more time – nothing is off the table.”

Governor Rendell (in file photo), meanwhile, says he might consider suspending pay raises for top-ranking executive branch officials whose salaries he controls.