Questions for The Ogden City Council Concerning Municipal Largesse

The following letter appeared this morning in the Standard-Examiner letters section, and focuses on an important issue soon to be addressed by the Ogden City Council, i.e, whether to revive a City-wide policy of automatic City staff pay increases. He also suggests other alternative options, such as reducing local property taxes and cutting executive salaries: Whether the latter was tongue-in-cheek I do not know; although I do think its something that deserves some serious discussion here, at least.

Ogden has highest taxes in Northern Utah
Monday, June 6, 2005

In several weeks, the Ogden City Council will make some decisions relative to the 2005-06 budget.

This budget includes up to a 7 percent increase in pay for members of the city's work force. It has been stated the increase is needed, "otherwise we will lose some of the quality staff."

Ogden should be concerned about losing more of its quality taxpayers.

Its combined 2004 tax rate is 18.7 percent higher than South Ogden's rate; it's 22 percent higher than Roy's rate; and it's 37 percent higher than Riverdale's rate.

In addition to having the highest tax rate in Northern Utah, the taxpayers of Ogden also pay an aggregate 6 percent on their utility payments.

Options for consideration by the members of the Ogden City Council:

* Reduce the merit increase to 3 percent and base it upon the recommendation of an employee's supervisor.

* Fund the proposed 2 percent inflation increase.

* And fund these increases with a 10 percent decrease in the salaries of all department heads, CAO and the mayor.

Most Ogden department heads are paid a salary which is almost fives times the average salary in Weber County.

The Ogden City Council should look at a 5 percent pay reduction in the city's property tax rate for upcoming budget year and a reduction of the 6 percent utility tax to 5 percent.

Please start doing something for the "quality" taxpayers of Ogden before they all leave.

David Haun
Ogden

The Standard-Examiner recently published a pair of editorials opposing these proposed Ogden City employee pay increases. The first of these editorials, published May, 7, sounds some notes quite similar to Mr. Haun's:

When it's your responsibility to handle other people's money, it is best to be circumspect, not spendthrift. As the Ogden City Council formulates its 2006 fiscal budget, that should be its motto.
The attitude around city hall is one of smiles and good cheer, because there's enough money in the budget to give employees a possible 7 percent raise -- 2 percent cost of living, and up to 5 percent merit increase.
That's quite generous. Too generous, in fact.

The second editorial, which is even stronger in tone, truly identifies the problem with these proposed pay increases. "Taxpayer fairness" is the fundamental issue here, as the May 16 editorial so aptly points out:

Since taxpayers lay out, directly, the wages of public employees, why should they stand for them getting cost-of-living adjustments that most private employers don't offer, along with up to 5 percent merit increases that most, if not all, private companies don't offer?

If cities are finding they have enough revenue to offer up to 7 percent wage bumps to employees, they should consider lowering their residents' taxes.

Elected leaders should remember that private-sector employers were forced to keep wages low and lay-off workers to survive the years-long economic slump. Wage increases for government workers should closely mirror what's happening in the private sector.

We have nothing against public employees, but since they are paid via taxation,
they should never get more than the people funding their salaries. It's an issue of taxpayer fairness.

The Standard-Examiner is exactly "on the money" on this issue, I think, as is the former Weber County Assessor, Mr. Haun. Will the City Council show some financial discipline when these issues come up for a vote? Or will they continue to rubber-stamp this administration proposal, just as they have seemingly done so many other times in the past, with respect to so many other Administration proposals ?

Comments?

06/05 update: I discovered this Standard-Examiner article, on the front page of Section B. One highly-paid top-tier Ogden City executive, Nate Pierce, Ogden City Chief Administrative Officer, announces he's calling it quits.

Will there be more executive "resignations" to follow, as Our City Council whets the edge of the executive salary ax? Or will this departure be interpreted by the City Council as a dire warning of the danger in failing to cough up to our "indispensable" top officials the pay increases that they deserve and demand? So many questions -- so few answers.