It’s as if the council members supporting the raises have been living in a cave for the past two years. Had they been here, they would know such a notion is more than bad timing, it’s bad leadership.
The ridiculous taxpayer bailout-funded Wall Street bonuses are not a blueprint for how our local leaders should act. But the situations are awfully similar.
Canton’s leaders have landed the city in serious debt – an estimated $68 million – by taking on too much too soon and with too little research into the actual cost of projects like the reservoir. This year, facing a day-to-day operating budget shortfall in excess of $1 million, the council cut more than 20 jobs and raised taxes by 14 percent.
While its admirable the council and mayor still squeaked out a 3-percent raise for city staff, it’s not so admirable to then consider one 200 times as large for themselves.
Perhaps they have overlooked that in addition to the 10-percent unemployment rate, likely twice that in reality when counting those who have left the labor pool, the majority of the public has not received a cost-of-living salary increase, much less a merit increase, in two years.
Yes, the council and mayor are underpaid when compared to similar sized, and even smaller, cities. However, the proposed salaries are out of line with those same cities. When the city’s finances are in better shape, the council could reasonably consider increasing its compensation to the average: $9,000 for the council and $12,500 for the mayor, annually.
In the meantime, council members should focus more on the city’s finances rather than their own salaries. If a raise must be approved this year, how about 3 percent? It was good enough for the city staff.
And with all three council seats up for a vote this fall in contested races, there clearly are plenty of people willing to serve for the current compensation.
With the issue of compensation now raised, the council should act now to do away with its ludicrous pension plan. While service on the council is honorable, it doesn’t compare to the lower-paying occupations government pensions are meant to reward like firefighter, police officer and teacher.
We should beware of any officials or candidates who don’t think the salaries are “fair” or argue “the money isn’t good enough.” Anyone who is getting into public service for the money is someone to be wary of, indeed. Service in an elected or appointed post is supposed to be a time to pay your civic rent, not to be rewarded financially.
We expect our leaders to be good stewards of our tax dollars and exercise sound judgment. We hope the Canton City Council will live up to those expectations.
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