Commissioners want to cut their pay? Figure that one
Warren County commissioners can’t figure out how much they want to earn.
After a comedy routine of suggestions at their regular meeting Monday night, commissioners finally defeated a resolution which would have lowered their overall pay. Yes, lowered it.
It was the right move to make considering no one has ever accused commissioners of getting rich through their jobs as county officials. However, if recent discussions are any indication, it appears commissioners are overly concerned with how often they meet and how much they’re paid. It would be better if commissioners focused their attention on important county matters – such as finding ways to replace Carrier jobs – than tinkering with something which isn’t broken.
The salary issue is especially intriguing since the Standard can’t recall anyone publicly questioning the commissioners’ current pay rate. They earn $260 a month plus $15 for regular meetings and $30 for specially called meetings.
The county budgets $90,000 a year for commissioner salaries. That figure, divided by the 24 commissioners, results in $3,750 apiece if all the money is used.
That’s reasonable compensation for the part-time job of serving on the commission. In a perfect world, we would like our county leaders to earn more, but that’s hard to achieve with the non-stop battle to conserve tax dollars and reel in government spending.
But leave it to commissioners to argue over something which had not previously been an issue. A resolution spearheaded by Commissioner Carl Hulett would have eliminated paid meetings, making the $260 monthly salary the only pay for commissioners. The resolution was defeated, 13-10.
It’s difficult to grasp the thinking behind this proposed pay cut, or behind the decision commissioners made last month to reduce the frequency of their meetings. Commissioners determined that meeting every month was simply too much and changed their schedule to every other month, or six times a year.
This was done, it was said at the time, so commissioners would have more time to concentrate on their individual committee meetings. If that’s the case, why would commissioners clamor to eliminate their pay for those meetings? Why would they voluntarily offer to take a pay cut when no one in the community is pushing such a move?
This is not normal behavior. Most folks don’t develop complicated arguments as to why they should earn less.
Like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, the intelligence of the Warren County Commission might just be one of those mysteries that’s difficult to pinpoint. There’s an occasional sighting followed by long stretches of dormancy. And like those fabled creatures, some people wonder if it ever existed at all.