SAN DIEGO -- While California works to solve a huge budget crisis, some state lawmakers have been handing out raises to the people who work for them. 10News learned that the largest pay increase went to the staff of one of San Diego's elected officials.

Assemblywoman Lori Saldana was generous to her staff this year, as she gave 20-percent raises to three of her employees and a 15-percent raise to her chief of staff.

Eighty-seven people working for state assembly members received $430,000 in raises. Nine senate staffers received $152,000 in raises.

Saldana boosted the salaries of her staff by $41,000, 10News learned.

Chief of staff Lucy Krohn made about $95,000 and received a pay increase of $15,000. She now makes more than $110,000.

Saldana and her spokesman refused to speak to 10News on camera, but both said the raises were needed to avoid losing dedicated employees to better-paying opportunities.

"It's still strategically stupid. I cannot imagine in this era of families facing hardships, fees going up, services being cut, taxes possibly going up, I can't imagine how a politician thinking about the symbolic response could do such a thing," said San Diego State University political science professor Ron King.

King said politicians are expected to be leaders, and in this time of crisis, handing out raises might not be political suicide but he said it is political silliness.

The raises that total just over $500,000 are only a drop in the bucket towards solving the state's massive budget problems, but giving them out is not exactly what taxpayers want to hear, King said.

"These are nickel-and-dime issues, given the extent of the hole we're in. But symbolically, it's exactly the wrong signal," said King.

10News spoke to several taxpayers who agreed that raises during a time of fiscal crisis do not sound like a good idea.

"My opinion is it seems inappropriate for, with a large budget deficit, for anybody in government to get a raise," said Carlos Penera.

Grad student Holly Shakya said, "Certainly if people are expected to do twice the amount of work and maybe they were getting $10 per hour and now they get $15 per hour that could be fair."

Saldana makes $110,880 per year, just a few hundred dollars more than her chief of staff.

Overall, the payrolls of both the California Assembly and Senate are down, as there are fewer people on staff and the staff members who are there are working harder to fill the void.