Wages, Taxes, and Fairness -- First, my sincere thanks to everyone who's posted so far and made me glad I put this tool in place. I am definitely hearing different points of view on a number of issues.
I want to comment on something that was said regarding the City Commission's apparent unwilllingness to raise taxes in order to pay city employees what it takes to be in the city's housing market.
The truth is, from my point of view, that everyone in the system, which certainly includes the Commissioners, is doing the very best they can to make good judgement calls on the many issues we face. They certainly don't need my defense, but in fairness I have to point out that they also have to consider that not everyone in Sarasota is rich, and when they raise taxes to enhance employee wages or benefits they are also raising taxes for many who have no benefits of their own or who are also struggling to keep up with the cost of living. That's not to say that legitimate points aren't being made, but I always ask for fairness and think we all could be more willing to give the other guy more of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making judgments about his (or her) motives.
I want to comment on something that was said regarding the City Commission's apparent unwilllingness to raise taxes in order to pay city employees what it takes to be in the city's housing market.
The truth is, from my point of view, that everyone in the system, which certainly includes the Commissioners, is doing the very best they can to make good judgement calls on the many issues we face. They certainly don't need my defense, but in fairness I have to point out that they also have to consider that not everyone in Sarasota is rich, and when they raise taxes to enhance employee wages or benefits they are also raising taxes for many who have no benefits of their own or who are also struggling to keep up with the cost of living. That's not to say that legitimate points aren't being made, but I always ask for fairness and think we all could be more willing to give the other guy more of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making judgments about his (or her) motives.
posted by Michael McNees at 8:00 PM
7 Comments:
Mike, one of the taboo issues in town is the compensation of your masters, the five city commissioners. Long ago, we decided city commssioners were part-time workers. Today the job is not only full-time but beyond-full-time.
While you forgo a 4% raise to your $100K+ salary, they must manage on a $22K annual wage (plus some benefits and travel, admittedly). Some of your masters put in 60 hours per week, as you probablly do too. But you receive five times as much or more.
It will take a change to the city's charter to amend the salaries of city commissioners. In the meantime, who would seek a 60-hour-per-week job paying $400? That's $6.65 per hour, or about 20% higher than the minimum wage enjoyed by a dishwasher.
If we want to talk about compensation for city workers, let's start at the top. Do we really want to be governed by people making slightly more than minimum wage?
I do not agree the commissioners should be paid more, in fact I feel they should not be paid at all except expenses. They have skills which are different than the employees of the city, they use their skills in the "job" they have. They are out in the public hearing and learning the pulse of the city people to help them make decisions for the good of the entire city. The Charter officials, City Attorney, City Auditor & Clerk and City Manager along with the employees are hired for their expertise and that cannot be compared to a commissioner who is elected for other reasons.
I am not sure why we are talking about the commission because they are the only ones that can change their compensation. They are elected not hired employees. Its the difference between a popularity contact and people being hired for a skill. They interact and have to show concern for all differenty types of personalities one person at a time, while the employees have to put the ideas into action and work hard to have our city function well for everyone, not just for one person.
I think City Commissioner is a hard job it should pay well above minimum wage. They take a lot of heat.
I also think city staff should be paid at market rates. Market with private industry (or public for police / fire) for comparable jobs ... to include benefits -
PS ... it's getting very rare to find defined benefit pensions in private industry.
Mike,
A comment about "fairness' that does not relate to your wage issue, which, by the way, I think is an unfair slap-in-the-face to the efficient City employees.
This concerns your recent controversial memo to the Planning Department about “down-zoning” the properties in the Burns Court area. I personally have nothing against the fact that you have a now well-known relationship with a business owner at the location, who is also president of that property association. But it bothers me to see people in City Government using their influence to benefit select individuals; or at least writing memos that certainly insinuate such action. This type of crap only fuels the fires of your current controversies and image.
The proper course of action is distance yourself from any further related decisions due to ‘conflict of interest.
To those who are not aware of the controversy I refer to the SRQ Herald- 8/28:
Sarasota manager says memo 'out of context'
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050828/NEWS/508280658/-1/GOOGLE01
Anonymous - I appreciate your point of view, but the simple trith is that the memo you reference was not one I wrote. And you misunderstand the intention of the entire communication, as did the newspaper. You can check there for a full clarification, which the H-T was kind enough to print. My point was never about the outcome.
To the person who felt I "slapped" city employees, my apologies, that was not my intention! Sometimes I just want to present all sides of an issue, or as many as I can anyway.
Karma - I appreciate what you said, you are obviously a person of great insight.... (that's a little humor in case anyone is wondering.) But you make some good points, which reflect accurately what I was thinking. Who knows about exactly what compensation, if any, the city might have had to pay, but most of the legal types seemed to think the CCDB-to-DTE folks had a decent case. Thanks for the post.
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