November 15, 2006
Salary Increases Wait To Die Another Day
Yesterday, the D.C. Council decided to table emergency legislation to hike their own salaries, already the second-highest in the nation. In the discussion of the bill, first introduced by Chairman Linda Cropp at the urging of D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, the margin of pay increases slowly declined as the hours elapsed, a likely response to public criticism of the proposals.
The first move, which came in response to criticism of a proposed 51 percent pay increase from their current $92,000 yearly take, was made by Vincent Orange. The Ward 5 council-member offered to lower the salary jump from $140,000 to $122,530. Not to be out-done in the category of "leaping from the sinking ship," At-Large member Phil Mendelson suggested going down a step further, to $115,000. Had the bill been discussed any further, council-members would be working as volunteers.
Ultimately, concerns of several members lead the council to postpone further discussion until at least December 5. This will give them time to consider the various proposals to create a salary review board with the hope of avoiding the reverse bidding war of Tuesday. Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) told WJLA he was "uncomfortable" making decisions about his own pay.
So, wither the future of pay hikes? In the next month the council faces several challenges. This week was the first time local news really focused on the proposal, so public interest in keeping their representatives out of the honey pot may rise. There's also the issue of a pesky federal law that stops council-members who weren't up for re-election this year from cashing in on any raises. With all the crises in other areas of the D.C. budget, it seems clear that the legislation won't be the cake-walk many council members might have expected.
Photo by Flickr user truenotes
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with-er
verb (used without object)
1. to shrivel; fade; decay: The grapes had withered on the vine.
2. to lose the freshness of youth, as from age (often fol. by away).
whith-er
adverb
1. to what place? where?
2. to what end, point, action, or the like? to what?
I'm sure we'd all like the pay hikes to "wither," but I don't quite think that's what's intended here. Like old Professor Wagglebum used to say while administering a thorough caning, "If you're going to use archaic English, use proper archaic English."
Of course the critical question is who exactly gets to pick who's on that salary panel. Squirreling away the decision to a panel handpicked by the very people who are trying to distance themselves from the decision could lead to even higher salaries as the appearance of independence gives cover to back door shenanagans.
And what "crises in other areas of the D.C. budget"? Last time I heard, the city is running a healthy surplus. Granted, there isn't a governmental agency in existence that thinks it's properly funded, but that doesn't translate into the statement that we have "all these crises in the DC budget."
I vaguely recall a CFO story in WP to the effect that DC Government expenditures were keeping pace with the massive increases in tax revenues. However, those revenues aren't expected to continue growing at a 30% annual rate indefinitely. Maybe that's the crisis being referred to.
In other words, the Deputy Assistant Vice Secretary to the Deputy Assistant Vice Secretary for Self-Esteem Awareness Programs will have to make do with only 8,000 "You Are a Unique And Precious Snowflake" motivational posters.
Every time there are elections for council members or any of the other positions, there appear to be many interested and willing candidates (at the current level of pay). Why then do we need to increase salaries?
Whether the positions are considered part-time (as the council member positions were listed in The Post and The Times) or not should have nothing to do with it.
Unfortunately Reid is right … they will just create an entity that will absolve them of all responsibility for making decisions on pay increases. When the time comes I would love to see just one of them refuse the increase!
A salary hike for DC Council members should be accompanied by legislation codifying the job as full-time. Currently, Council members are permitted to earn outside income and hold jobs that do not present direct conflicts-of-interest.
No one should begrudge our lawmakers a fair salary; we want to attract the brightest and the best. However, public dollars should not be used to compensate "part-time" officials with six figure salaries.