The Ramsey County Charter Commission will hold a hearing on November 2 [aka Election Eve] in City Council/ County Commission chambers in the City Hall/ Court House [6:30 p.m.] regarding public participation via referendum on the amount County Commissioners are to be paid.
There are two proposals. Both assume pay increases for commissioners. Apparently, nobody thinks that a pay decrease is in order.
The present salary is $82,400 per year. Let me suggest that our commissioners are already well paid. While it is true that they are indeed responsible for overseeing the budgeting and expenditures of large quantities of public moneys, that in itself does not seem to warrant a salary so large. How to spend much of the money is predetermined before the county receives it.
I am not trying to take an anti-tax position simply because I don’t like taxes. Actually, I would favor putting a little more money for the part of the second floor the commissioners inhabit. Watch a County Commission meeting, either in person [if you can get through the security at Lord Fletcher’s Castle] or on cable television. The commissioners seem way too dependent on what the staff [which is responsible to others and often operates from different agenda] can tell them and not enough on their own independent sources of information.
Why not take the money we might be willing to spend on commissioner pay increases and use it for development of independent staffs for the commissioners?
Just an idea.
There are two proposals. Both assume pay increases for commissioners. Apparently, nobody thinks that a pay decrease is in order.
The present salary is $82,400 per year. Let me suggest that our commissioners are already well paid. While it is true that they are indeed responsible for overseeing the budgeting and expenditures of large quantities of public moneys, that in itself does not seem to warrant a salary so large. How to spend much of the money is predetermined before the county receives it.
I am not trying to take an anti-tax position simply because I don’t like taxes. Actually, I would favor putting a little more money for the part of the second floor the commissioners inhabit. Watch a County Commission meeting, either in person [if you can get through the security at Lord Fletcher’s Castle] or on cable television. The commissioners seem way too dependent on what the staff [which is responsible to others and often operates from different agenda] can tell them and not enough on their own independent sources of information.
Why not take the money we might be willing to spend on commissioner pay increases and use it for development of independent staffs for the commissioners?
Just an idea.
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