What Will a Five Percent Pay Hike Cost Elk Grove Taxpayers?

Are Top Officials in Self-Serve Buffet Line? 

Years ago a graybeard noted that he had never seen a career politician retire poor. The same can now be said of top officials running municipalities.

When the 2012 fiscal year budget was approved Wednesday night, the Elk Grove City Council offered little discussion of next year’s financial plan, much less a proposal that will make employees eligible for a five percent merit pay increase. 

The only council member questioning the raise was Pat Hume, but even his questioning of the wisdom of increasing taxpayers labor cost given an uncertain economic future for Elk Grove was tepid. The spin being offered up by City Manager Laura Gill was that city employees have made great sacrifices over the last three years and the raise was needed for morale.

The city council bought it.

While we don’t object to lower paid non-executive staff being offered an opportunity to get a merit-based raise, if Gill and her posse were really sincere about improving morale for employee, the top executives would have exempted themselves from eligibility and deferred any pay increase eligibility to the sole discretion of the council.

If the top five paid city employees earn a five percent merit raise it will cost taxpayers an additional $46,640.

Current income and a five percent increase for the city's top five paid employees:

Laura Gill, City Manager, $218,185 - $10,909

Susan Cochran, City Attorney, $195,359 - $9,767

Robert Lehner, Chief of Police, $179,894 - $8,994

Rebecca Craig, Assistant City Manager, $171,846 - $8,593

Richard Shepard, Public Works Director, $167,554 - $8,377

So obviously the people advocating this increase stand to gain the most in real terms. If this is anything but a self serving attempt to get themselves raises, we would gladly like to hear a counter-argument. 

It would be very surprising to find out if any of these top five officials earn anything less than a five percent merit increase.

It should also be noted that while Gill sold and the council bought the scheme, wages of the council’s constituents in the private sector have seen their wages stagnate. According to US Department of Commerce statistics, 10-year wage gains are worse than in any ten-year period including the Great Depression.

As of April, 2011 private sector wage growth over a 10 year period are 4.1 percent. Please note this is over a 10 year period, not an annual rate. Put another way, a worker earning $30,000 in April of 2001 is now making only $31,200.

Talk about someone having low morale!

Undoubtedly it will be argued that $47K in the scheme of a $148 million budget is chump change. But as the old political adage goes a $100,000 here and $100,00 there and pretty soon you are talking real money.

So before Elk Grove taxpayers wallets get pickpocketed again by marauding officials ala John Danielson, we hope the council takes into consideration the scope of any merit raises for the taxpayers top executives given the wage plight facing the very same constituents they have sworn to serve. 

Then the council can truly say they are being "lean and mean."