The Post-Star offers local government some advice: no raises
Here's how the Glens Falls Post-Star frames the question of local government boards giving themselves raises:
Any politicians who propose pay raises for themselves while laying off workers and denying raises to others is simply just ... what's the word? ... unbelievable.The editorial does wrestle with a nagging concern for many local boards: convincing people to work long hours in a controversial, often heated environment, for little pay.
Yet some members of the Glens Falls Common Council are tentatively testing the waters for such a pay raise.
Raising a councilman's $10,000 compensation by $300, as a 3 percent raise would do, isn't going to get any better candidates. If you want a better class of candidates to consider running, you'd have to double that pay, not bump it up by a couple hundred dollars.What do you think? Should local officials earn more? Less? Should symbolic issues like this matter to voters? Comments welcome below.
Labels: adirondacks
posted by Brian Mann @ 11/24/2009 08:34:00 AM
10 Comments
10 Comments:
Given the economic conditions in most localities, I consider it to be irresponsible for officials to award themselves raises. The line needs to be held on spending. Wages should be frozen or lowered.
Anybody who goes into local politics with the thought that they are going to make money is an idiot.
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These local officials know what the pay is when they run for office. I love it when one of their first acts is to vote themselves a raise.
Whatever happened to public service?
The direct monetary compensation is one thing, the real scam is that some of these boards give themselves the very expensive health benefits. Factor that in and they're earning nearly as much as full-time employees. Yet another reason why we need to consolidate all these wasteful and EXPENSIVE layers of government wherever possible.
All things considered, I don't think board members are over paid. Most here in Hamilton County chose not to take any raise this year.
It should be noted, at least for Hamilton County, the pay board members receive is nominal. The main financial break comes in the form of health insurance, since many are small business owners.
Here in Saranac Lake, I know at least some of the Village Board members devote a LOT of time to that committment. They tackle everything from trying to attract jobs to our town, to issues of water and sewer, and pretty much everything in between. I do not know what, if anything, they are paid.
They do endure an astonishing barrage of scorn, derision, disrespect, and vitriol from community members who criticise their decisions but seldom offer positive alternatives. It is not a job I would want, no matter the pay.
In addition to health insurance many (most?) public service jobs are eligible for inclusion in the NYS retirement system. I've heard of people who would run for Town Justice or similar after working a few years in state service, then go into private enterprise. Their part time local government job gives them years and the full time state work gave them 'high years' of salary to base a pension on. Multiply 2% per year of service times 20 or more total years (even though only 5 may have been FT) and you end up with a pretty good pension. Now if they got $30K for the part time job too. I might even run.
I am personally friends with two of the Glens Falls councilmen and am acquainted with a third. They do definitely work. Lots of hours in meetings beyond just the twice a month Council meetings, to say nothing of constituent meetings and phone calls at all hours. I suspect they earn their money. But I do agree with the Post-Star that this is not the right climate for a raise.
How about state lawmakers who are getting a big per diem increase? Why don't some of them do the responsible and refuse per diem stipends? Is that too much to ask given the economic climate? One thing is for sure our state lawmakers look out for themselves.
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