North Dakota legislators should raise their own monthly salaries, session pay, housing allowance and mileage reimbursement, an advisory board believes, although it will be up to lawmakers to vote themselves the increases.

The Legislative Compensation Commission, which is made up of five former lawmakers, made the recommendations Tuesday to a separate interim legislative panel, called the Legislative Management Committee.

The advisory board's chairman, Charles Axtman, a former Republican state representative from Jamestown, said the North Dakota treasury's burgeoning surplus should make a legislative pay raise possible.

"I know you folks are like everybody else. You know that there's some money in the pot," Axtman told the Legislative Management Committee.

The management committee, which includes the Legislature's Republican and Democratic floor leaders, took no action on the report. It will be presented to the House speaker and the lieutenant governor, who preside over the floor sessions of the North Dakota House and Senate.

"I've always felt that our compensation was reasonable, and that our increases ought to be somewhat in line with what we give other state employees," said Sen. Randy Christmann, R-Hazen, the Senate's assistant majority leader. "I think this is pretty reasonable."

North Dakota lawmakers are paid $364 a month during their terms, plus an extra $875 a week when the Legislature is in session.

Both sums are scheduled to rise soon. On July 1, legislators' monthly pay is increasing to $378 a month, and session pay during the 2009 Legislature will rise to $945 a week.

The commission is recommending that legislators boost their monthly salaries by 4 percent, to $393, and their session pay to $980 weekly. Both changes would take effect July 1, 2009, after the next session of the Legislature is likely to be over.

Lawmakers now get a $900 monthly housing allowance when they are in session, and the commission is recommending that the sum be increased to $1,000. Some Bismarck motel owners pushed for an allowance of $1,200 a month, "but we felt that was kind of a big jump," Axtman said.

The commission's other members are former Sens. Richard Brown, R-Fargo, and Meyer Kinnoin, D-Palermo, and former Reps. Margaret Sitte, R-Bismarck, and John Mahoney, D-Center.

Lawmakers and state employees who use their personal vehicles for state business are reimbursed for 45 cents a mile. The commission believes the payment should be linked to the Internal Revenue Service's standard rate, which is now 50.5 cents a mile, Axtman said. The IRS rate usually is adjusted at least once each year.

Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the Legislative Management Committee's chairman, said proposals to raise legislators' pay make many lawmakers nervous.

"It's a hard vote for legislators, because they're never really sure how it's going to sell at home," Carlson said. "I say that whatever we compensate our people, they earn every nickel of it. They are hardworking people."