Northampton County Council last March adopted long overdue salary increases for future county executives, controllers and council members. The Exec's salary will go from $65,000 to $85,000, starting in 2010. Council's salary will shoot from $7,000 to $9,500. The next Controller, elected in 2012, will see his salary go from $39,000 to $50,000. It will be their first raise in eighteen years.But if council member Lamont McClure gets his way, that raise will be suspended. McClure opposed payhikes last year because of an uncertain economy. He added that no one who serves in elective office should be doing it for the money.
The Home Rule Charter prevents Council from giving themselves raises. They can set salaries for the next term of an elected official, but not the current one. Here's what it says.
"The County Council shall have the power by ordinance to set the salary of each elected official. No ordinance shall increase or decrease the salary of an elected official during his term of office. No ordinance which increases or decreases the salary of an elected official shall take effect less than one (1) year after its date of enactment."
Since the next term will start in January, less than a year from now, I'm uncertain that Council can get involved at all. If it does have the power to suspend a payraise, that will only go into effect in June or July of 2010. So the next county exec would start off at an $85,000 and see his salary plummet to $65,000 in six or seven months.
When Lehigh and Northampton County adopted Home Rule Charters in 1978, they set initial salaries for their execs and legislators. The full-time county execs were paid $30,000 (Lehigh) and $35,000 (Northampton) while part-time legislators were paid $2,500 (Lehigh) and $4,000 (Northampton).
If these 1978 salaries were adjusted just for cost of living, our local county officials would be bringing home a lot more bacon today. Northampton County Exec Stoffa would be paid $113,975. His Lehigh County counterpart, Don Cunningham, would gross $97,693. Northampton County Council members would receive $13,025 salaries instead of the current $7,000.
You get what you pay for, bippy. Local leaders like McClure will tell you they're here to serve, but a glance at their campaign expense reports makes you wonder just who is the master. Let's face it. Our current salary structure is designed to attract political hacks looking to advance themselves, or zillionaires who've lost touch with the common man. I've heard many very qualified private businessmen, state legislators, and others simply state they could not afford to live on the meager wages paid to local elected officials.
Northampton County Exec John Stoffa actually vetoed a proposed 2006 payhike. At that time, several union contracts were still being negotiated. Some employees had seen their wages frozen for three years. The timing was all wrong.
Now, all labor contracts have been negotiated. But McClure, who has consistently opposed payhikes, is undoubtedly concerned about raises at a time when taxpayers are losing their jobs. But if it's all about the notion of service, why not forego salaries completely? Why does McClure even collect his current $7,000 salary?
These raises have waited long enough.
30 comments:
I agree with Lamont. God Bless him.
County Council, The Executive and Controller should all agree to this.
Stoffa doesn't need the money with his sixteen pensions, Barron pushed for this from day one and Council starting in the early nineties passed on increases, so why now.
I guess this new group of politicans see dollar signs.
Lets see if Stoffa and Barron will put their mouths where our wallets are.
God Bless you Mr. McClure.
Agreed, anyone else and O'Hare would be screaming but Stoffa can have anything he wants.
If more money means better quality, than Stoffa and Barron should resign so better quality can take their place.
Same with Council. All these jokers ran with the lesser pay, so by the bullshit argument pay more in government for quality, they are already inferior.
Any move by McHale, Dertinger, or McClure can never be viewed objectively or logically with the voters or the County or the taxpayers in mind. Every move is a political one to either punish Stoffa for his popularity or successes or try to save their own hides. Without having enough information I can only guess that the motivation for this move is either to punish Stoffa (that if McHale had won there would have been a motion to take it up to the aformentioned $113,000) or that there is a fear that if the salaries for all the positions were more competitive, competent candidates would start becoming attracted to running and the Council runs wouldn't be limited to the village idiots like they are now.
From a performance standpoint, they haven't deserved a raise in 18 years. And they don't now, either.
Are we having trouble filling these positions at the current rate? Only government would be willing to increase the pay of incompetents with still more incompetents waiting in line to slop at the trough.
McClure is finally right on something.
The money isn't so much, but the symbolism is terrible. 9% out of work and this pay is going up ?
I totally agree with McClure! Money doesn’t guarantee quality!
Look at our banking mess, all those high salaries and crap for ability. If you want to piss at campaign financing, then lobby for campaign finance reform like publically funding financing.
Typical blog ranting, throw rocks at it, don’t lobby for reform!
Fly on Shit should remember Barry Hussein's lie about taking public funds. McCain co-sponsored campaign finance reform that significantly hamstrung him against the wise and powerful candidate of Nazi sympathizer, George Soros. Campaign finance reform is as dead as any chance Obama tells the truth about where 60% of his untraceable money came from.
I've noticed the Long Dems now hate Barron, who was neutral in the exec race, bc he showed up at Stoffa's victory party and shook his hand. Take a look at the comment from 3:13 AM.
It is not beyond those people to make a proposal like this simply to punish Barron for being civil and Stoffa for daring to win.
I was going to post on blog on this, but will say it here instead. We are burning the candle at both ends. Government spending at all levels & from both parties is going through the stratosphere. While revenues are going through the floor. It's only a matter of time.
Just because you can't see nor hear the freight train barreling down on you, doesn't mean...
We all screech at meetings, on blogs, at the voting booth and on phone calls, but still the insanity continues. Thus I've been more resigned to fate as I suppose a great deal of my fellow citizens who are not apathetic but rather drained of any recourses.
By way of example- Which future Allentown mayor would you say will be the hope of the future? Which school board member understands the plight of the homeowner? Which leader on a federal level is saving the working man or their 401k's... instead of large banks, auto corporations, wall street (all the while eliminating 100,000's of jobs)?
Steve Barron has turned to the dark side, self preservation! Kiss up to whoever keeps them in office! I believe the Controller job should not be elected! He is protecting/auditing the spending our tax dollars and should not be loyal to anyone to keep their job!
It's official. Barron is now despised by the Long Demsfor congratulating county exec Stoffa on his victory.
It's amazing to me that County Council delayed the bond vote last week, costing the taxpayers an extra $2,000,000 because of the delay just because Dertinger had a bumper sticker in his office that said that engineers are unethical. Yet, they're concerned about the thousands that it would cost for the COunty Controller to make more than someone in retail. I fully support raising the Council's salaries too. I think that if there were good money involved, we'd get some good people and then we'd save the money in the end.
How many comments have been written decrying the incompetent, the lazy, or the ineffectual elected official? I would say a good 75%.
If we continue to have mediocre salaries for our elected officials, we will attract mediocre people.
Our leaders; the County Execs, the Mayors must be insane. Most have taken pay cuts for their current jobs and are making far less money than their department/cabinet heads. These people are managing million dollar budgets, hundreds of employees and working far more hours than most people. They expend a ton of energy (whether you all want to believe it or not), to BETTER THE COMMUNITY THEY LIVE IN - all for privelege of getting slammed in the newspaper, on the blogs and on Bobby Gunther's radio program. Their personal lives have to live up to a standard that is far above the expectations of anyone else and they get scrutinized by the media to make sure they are spending their campaign funds properly.
No raise? Mr. McLure, I know it sounds politically expedient to deny these already mandated raises, but just give it up. They deserve it.
12:17 PM.. Better compensation will turn the trick? You mean like the heads of GM, Chrysler, Bank Of America, etc.?
More symbolic than anything else but symbols are important in governing.
12:17,
I suspect you've never run a business or earned a private sector dollar. In fact, I suspect you're on council. There is no shortage of individuals attempting to become county politicians. History has shown no correlation between political salaries and job performance.
The county executive of Northampton makes more than the township executive or Treasurer of Whitehall?
oops makes less. My error above
I'm afraid that we do get what we pay for and it is time to expect a lot, but to pay for it, too.
The timing of this proposal, which just happens to have fallen right after it is apparent that John Stoffa will be reelected, is beginning to llok more and more like yet another mean-spirited attempt by the Long dems to punish the side that wins. Taking aim at the controller, along with the comments directed at him, make very clear that Barron has been too friendly to Stoffa.
12:20
I'm not a politician at all - not on council, not elected. I currently work in the business community and was a co-owner of a successful business for many years. I know the difficulties of running a business which is how these municipalities should be run. I know many of our Valley elected officials and I marvel sometimes that they keep on doing it. This is what led me to make my previous comments. If people expect good solid leadership, they should at least pay a salary that can decently support a family while the electeds are out running the City/County, raising money, and raising their profile and education by integrating themselves into their community.
Again, if we need to pay more money to ATTRACT quality people to Office, what does that say about the people who went into Office with the current pay.
This has always been a bullshit Republican argument that is now been joined by the New Dem's who see a nice career on the public dole.
There is no good argument to raise any public salary during an economic time like this.
Should we reduce the union wages while we are at it ? They only averaged 7.5 per cent per year...fat chance . That is the real cost of growing government expenses .
It is ironic that McClure, Dertinger and "honey girl" McHale the barmaid blow up huge inflatable rats to get 10% annual raises for the unions instead of 7.5% raises and Dertinger doesnt' even work, just collects from a union out of state, yet they decry a COntroller who handles a $300 million budget more than $39,000 a year?
10:50, the point is the Controller ran for the job at the rate it payed. If he thinks he is better than the wage he should resign. If he thinks he can make more in the private sector, good luck.
Truth is he can't, he's not that talented. Another connected young pol on the make and wanting to make a career out of Governemnt by getting elected and immediately lobbying for a payhike.
When McClure's absence from an important LV Health Comm'n results in the lack of a quorum, it's hard to think he really gives a shit about saving taxpayers money. His absence last night means taxpayers footed the advertising bill for a meeting that never occurred.
The idea of paying the Controller more money was first floated in early '06 and has nothing to do w/ Barron. He never took a position o a payraise for himself. His only argument was that a controller should be fulltime.
The county exec and controller of a $330 million budget need far more compensation than what is currently established. Stoffa should be getting paid well over $100k and the Controller should be paid an equivalent amount.
You cannot expect good people to serve unless they are paid an amount commensurate with their responsibilities and sufficient to support a family.
It is clear to me now that McClure is just pandering, trying to take a politically popular position in advance of his run for the state house. Why did he wait until after the election to make this proposal? He wants to punish Stoffa for winning and punish Barron for shaking Stoffa's hand. It's politics, not good government.
Anon 12:22,
Sour grapes much? You're right, he did run at the current pay grade, but the council decided to raise his pay, at the outset of his next term if I understand correctly. Even if they did so for now, the point is that they approved it. $39,000 a year is not very much for someone doing the work he is doing, but he's working for it without so much as a peep now. He's not lobbying for more, it was outright given to him, and quite frankly makes sense with a full-time label now attached to his job. Your assertion that he is "not that talented" shows you are here on a political agenda to cut him down. A "well connected young pol?" To who anon? who?
To the same crowd that pushed the buttons behind Reibman.
Anonymous said...
"To the same crowd that pushed the buttons behind Reibman."
Ohhh bullshit!
This guy worked his butt off to get elected. Nobody chose Steve Baron and annointed him Controller. He went to EVERYONE to tell them that he wanted the job. He went to office holders across the valley and asked for advice on how to get the people to elect him. He knocked on doors, his family and friends had fundraisers for him and he made his own way. He couldn't have been more un-connected.
This kid is a very distant relative of mine and I KNOW how hard he worked for this job.
Lynn
That is bullshit. I supported Steve and nobody every called me a Reibman sycophant.
Steve had nothing to do w/ the idea of raising the controller's salary. That idea was floated long before he ever expressed an interest in the job.
Barron approaches the job a little too independently for the likes of Lamont McClure, Ann McHale and Charles Dertinger. Instead of staying at McHale's wake on election night, Barron made it a point to go to both McHales's AND Stoffa's shindig.
While at Stoffa's party, he shook hands w/ Stoffa and that was captured on video. It was more than Long Dems could bear. So they must punish Barron.
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