Commissioner Peters On Proposed County Salary Increase
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 11/20/08 @ 11:27 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
The story fronted by one local newspaper today caused my blood pressure to increase by about 30 points. The county council is considering raising their own salary, and those of many other elected officials, by a large amount while their constituents are hunkering down hoping they aren’t the next casualty of this global financial crisis:
The County Council will consider the recommended salaries for about 50 positions during a special meeting in early December.
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The bulk of the increases, worth almost $140,000, would go to elected officials, including the commissioners and the County Council, and the chief deputies those officials appoint.
I mean seriously, could there be worse timing for a such a move? They would use our tax dollars to raise their own salaries after they cut staff, said they couldn’t afford to maintain the bridges and squandered tens of millions of dollars on a bridge to nowhere? And all this conveniently 2 weeks after the election? Really?
Instead of going into full meltdown mode I decided to call the county commissioners to try and figure out what was going on. Surely, surely our county government officials are not so insensitive to the plight of our local economy that they would propose raising their own salaries while this region and the rest of the country slips towards a depression.
Commissioner Nelson Peters took the time to meet with me today to explain the situation as well as give me an update about the 911 consolidation and the bridge financing issue. It was a good conversation, and I’ll have a post on 911 consolidation and bridge financing tomorrow, but for now here’s a summary of our conversation regarding the proposed salary increses:
Obviously the first thing I wanted to know was just what the heck was going on and why now? Peters began by explaining this was the culmination of a 4 year process where the county’s HR director was tasked to perform a salary survey and come up with recommendations for making county salaries somewhat competitive (~80%) with those in the private sector.
He did say that his quote in the paper (”I am reasonably comfortable with what’s being proposed”) was misleading because he was comfortable with the process (and result) the HR director used to conduct the survey but not with the idea of raising salaries right now. He also wasn’t happy about the headline (”Allen Officials Urge Pay Hike”) because he didn’t know of a single official that was urging this forward.
His point to me was that he feels like these salaries need to be more competitive to continue to attract quality people into county government but he also said “the timing stinks”. I told Peters that I disagreed with that argument. I do not believe that a 19% increase in the county commissioners’ salary is not going to make a bit of difference in whether or not someone decides to run for office. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of people willing to run for elected office and clearly they know the salary going in.
I then asked the obvious question - if you were on county council would you support these pay increases or not? Peters said he would not and that he would probably talk to a couple of the county councilmembers before the vote and ask them not to support it. Although he didn’t want to speak for commissioner Bill Brown he said he was reasonably sure that he did not support the increase either. He also showed more confidence in the county council than I have because he said he wasn’t sure if the pay increases would pass or not.
At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter - county council could triple the salaries and nobody would give a damn. Most voters are completely uninformed about local races and will simply vote for the people with the “R” by their name no matter how pitiful their representation has been or how financially irresponsible they are.
Voters get the representation they deserve so here we are. Somebody should mention to the county council that people are struggling and instead of stuffing their own pockets they might want to give some of that back to those of us that are ultimately responsible for signing their paychecks. Of course I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. They will likely ignore the plight of the citizenry and enrich themselves with our hard-earned, desperately needed tax dollars. Their resolution might as well just state “ LET THEM EAT CAKE!“
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19 Responses to “Commissioner Peters On Proposed County Salary Increase”
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Fort Wayne’s version of flying leer jets to D.C. to plead poverty??? Did I understand this right? This is part of a 4-year process? If the compensation study was done then, perhaps it’s changed since then? If that’s the basis for this, then let’s continue flying coach with the rest of the world rather than jumping on that leer jet now and then asking for a tax increase later.
The Commissioner’s move may actually be the most remarkable political move I have ever seen. It is unbelievable. It is as if they have been living in a cave and have no idea what the rest of the world is going through. For them to use our tax dollars to give 19 to 26% raises is nothing short of unconscionable. They should be ashamed and embarrassed. If the Assessor wants to be paid as if she is in the Private Sector, I have an Idea….. Go get a job in the private sector…. if there is one!
If this headline made your blood pressure rise, perhaps Nelson Peters will outlaw the sale of local newspapers in bars and restaurants.
I had an idea for determining compensation for the executive branch of government. Candidates for elected office publicly announce how much they are willing to settle for. A state governor running for POTUS might insist on $100,000 a year, a CEO might ask for $750,000. The voters would take the salary bids into consideration along with the candidates’ qualifications.
I have always thought that an elected official should NOT receive a raise during his term. Rather, they can set the NEW rate for the following term- then the voters can decide if they are worth that much when the elections come around.
Let’s see….. A nearby hospital is asking it’s employees to take a 10% pay CUT. Three thousand GM truck workers are on pins and needles wating for the axe to fall on their lives. The city told it’s rank and file to “go fish” on raises and the county officials would like a raise? Bull S..T!
Take the commissioners cars away! They can take cab and help the local small businessperson. Let them ride the public transportation and help keep it alive. Let them drive their OWN cars. I bet the mileage use drops by at least 30%.
Kevin seems to present a more reasonable solution. Most of these folks don’t run for the money anyway…… It’s POWER and prestiege. Oh yeah….. opportunity! Just ask former Senator Ted Stevens
Dan-
I believe it’s spelled “Lear” jet, or was that “leer” intentional?
Do I understand this correctly? Commissioner Peters is proposing something that he is against?
More doublespeak from Mr. Peters. Maybe with combined 911 call centers there could be combined PIO’s. Nelson doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.
Uhh… Nelson drives his own car to work, not a county vehicle. Also, the mayor makes double what the commissioner’s make. County salaries as a whole are a lot less than city salaries. They should be compensated for what they do. It is not really an increase.
green jeans,
This is not Peters’ proposal. This is entirely up to the county council - I was unclear about that as well. When I read the original story I thought it came from the commissioners but Nelson said it did not. I guess I should’ve made that more clear.
And just for the record, as Pat pointed out, peters drives his own car.
There may be 3 commissioners, but Peters does the work of 2 of them. Linda Bloom is the single biggest waste of tax payers money. The only thing she’s good for is showing up at parades. I believe Peters is on record as stating he was against the raise. Please, get your facts straight.
Hay, I am pretty stupid on this issue but who introduced this thing?
Is the timing bad?
Let see if GM has to go court to get things squared away that means the Allen County Plant may be shut down for a few weeks. I am just thinking here that COIT tax dollars may well fall. Plus we already know more people are laid off in Allen County producing fewer tax dollars for the county…. Anyone getting the picture here that the county is going to have less dollars coming in?
Then again maybe they figured it our and want a money grab before the hammer falls so everyone figures it out. Next comes election time the GOP Exec. Committee will decide who will run and us sheep will go to the polls and do our civic duty of returing them to office…. We are a real smart group of people!!!!!
How sad….
J.Q.
FYI,
There is no longer an executive committee within the local GOP.
Penny Wise,
OK Penny Wise. So what is the name of the few who are running the operation? Who changed the rules of the party that was reportly passed a few months ago?
The local party rule changes were drafted by precinct committeemen and voted on by all of them. No members of the former executive committee were involved. Shine wasn’t even involved, and it took some of his power away as well.
Since our county council is made up of real estate developers - in this down economy - they need to find a way to re-line their pockets. Salaries and competitiveness is a bunch of crap. These guys run for power to influence their real objectives. City/County consolidation must happen.
Penny Wise,
As normal I did some talking to friends and friends of friends. The rule changes you said where made is true. It is also true Steve Shine’s so called power has been “slightly limited” as the word I often heard.
Also a number of people I talked to are not as convinced as you are that things have changed much at all. It it address some PR type issues.
What I heard was wait until 2010 to see if things have changed much. That will be the test and only then.
Also that some people who have contributed a great deal of the money over a long period of time have not returned to the party.
So as I was told wait until 2010 and then there will be proof in the pudding, as they say!!!!!
Pat:
“They should be compensated for what they do. It is not really an increase.”
Maybe I’m just a stupid taxpayer but I fail to see where almost $300/week more is “not really an increase”.
When rank and file county employees are getting 3% and city employees are getting no increase, it appears just a little obscene for the folks that are on the upper edge of the salary scale to receive 19%. Most especially when the downturn in the economy is going to reduce the tax revenue for the forseeable future. And….. I’m really impressed the someone in county government drives his/her own car to work. His example should be followed as a show of support for the county employees that don’t have issued cars!
[...] spoke with commissioner Nelson Peters last week about a variety of topics including the controversial county pay raise proposal which I previously wrote about. We also discussed 911 consolidation and I wanted to update everyone [...]