During the frantic struggle to recoup voters, President Mejia offered a 30% pay raise to all of the government workers. As reported by Idonelia Perez Blanco for El Caribe, this will raise the monthly payroll of the Dominican government from RD$2.5 billion to RD$3.28 billion a month. And President Mejia told the American Chamber of Commerce that he would not reduce the number of people on the government payrolls. In today?s El Caribe, Edwin Ruiz reports that the first three months of the year saw an 18.5% increase in public employees over the same period in 2003. the increase, in percentages, surpasses in 2.3% the total increase in employees for all of 2004. This means that the government will be paying RD$128 million more each month, than has been assigned in the 2004 budget. And this does not take into account the 30% pay hike that Mejia promised government workers if re-elected. From January to March this year, the monthly payroll increased from RD$2.09 pesos to RD$2.34 billion, a 12% increase.