Deputy Mayor is the City’s Latest Overpaid Consultant
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 2/2/10 @ 6:41 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
The deputy mayor has resigned but he will still get paid for 3 more months during this transitional phase. Let me just say that I completely agree with councilman Tom Smith who called this arrangement “ridiculous”. How in the world is an operations manager going to perform his duties by telecommuting? That goes against the very nature of what operations management is all about.
Since there’s absolutely no way for him to perform his full-time job duties then he should not get full-time pay (shocking statement I know). However, if his input is needed during this transitional period then he should be paid his hourly rate and not a blanket salary. At this point he’s basically a government employee on retainer and he should be paid accordingly.
City council should remember this come next year’s budget talks and cut the mayor’s salary line accordingly in order to recoup the taxpayers’ money…
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Jeff, my understanding has always been that employees of government are not necessarily required to actually work to receive renumeration. This would appear to be yet another glaring example, would it not?
I wholeheartedly agree - and also subtract from the mayor’s salary the cost of mailing the “AEP update” letter, which was incredibly even mailed to hundreds of recently annexed homes in NW Fort Wayne that have Northeastern REMC as an electric utility. That was a total waste of, I believe, nearly $30,000 in postage and mailing expense.
I agree with those criticizing the decision to continue paying the deputy mayor salary after he resigns. It shows a lack of judgement on the part of this administration. It also shows a lack of sensitivity to taxpayers’ declining earnings and living standards. Most of us are feeling the effects of the worst economic climate since the depession. Is it any wonder why there are so many people angry with government? Overspending plagues county government too. The pay raises some of the county elected officials received were outrageous!! I hope voters show their disatisfaction in the voting booth. I know I will.