Our part-time legislators are in line for a significant boost to their pay.

As we reminded readers last week, members of the 132nd Maine State Legislature are going to be compensated 61% more than their recent predecessors — the legislator salary is jumping from below $28,000, for a two-year term, to $45,000.

The pay increase was supported “by both sides of the aisle,” and there’s no reason that shouldn’t have been the case. The work of the lawmaker should be involved work, it should be taken seriously and that involvement and seriousness needs to be appropriately remunerated.

It’s a pity that Maine has been low-balling lawmakers, from local representatives all the way up to governor, for so long.

While Gov. Janet Mills is not in line for an increase to her existing salary — which, at $70,000, is the nation’s lowest (you read that right)  — the same legislative bill that resulted in this pay hike will make circumstances better for Maine’s next governor, who will earn an annual salary of an improved $125,000. The gubernatorial expense account will also be expanded, next time around, rising from $10,000 to $40,000.

The more cynical reader might roll their eyes at the word of across-the-board lawmaker support for increased lawmaker pay — sure, no kidding. But the case for properly paying members of the Legislature is multifaceted and, well made, it is very persuasive.

First, you get the Legislature you pay for. Any hope of attracting our “best and brightest” into local politics is lost with a paltry sum on offer. Just as pay is a motivator — we hardly need to expand on this point – low pay is a deadly demotivator.

What’s more, an uncompetitive salary would prohibit many of us from even entertaining a career in local politics. If you make the salary more robust, you open the door to candidates for whom that income is simply not negotiable.

This door opening has an invaluable knock-on effect: it improves the makeup of our local government. It means that would-be working-class candidates can more securely go ahead and be candidates; it improves the chances of the Legislature to better and more faithfully represent all of Maine — be it by age, by income or by race. This adds depth and breadth to the deliberations and evaluations of our elected representatives.

Lawmaking, especially where it is not carried out on a full-time basis, cannot be thought of as some sort of side hustle. (Granted, when the annual pay does not exceed $14,000, there really is no hustling afoot.)

We owe it to our lawmakers — who are beholden to us voters and, if doing their job with vigor and devotion, give of themselves and their time much more than the job description requires — to pay them appropriately for the value of their work.

By improving that pay, we transmit a valuable message to those elected to do the work and those who might hope to run for election to do it in the future. We owe it to our lawmakers; we also owe it to ourselves.