Letter: Scrutiny of the Ogden budget proposal
We have inflation running out of control. Groceries & gas are through the roof, neither of which are considered luxury items. Our home property taxes have increased exponentially due to the ridiculous rise in appraised value. Half of anyone’s 401k plan has evaporated. Regardless of whose fault any of this is, the bottom line is that money is tight for almost all of us. That is, unless you happen to be some of those in the Ivory Tower of the administration at Ogden City, who have justified giving themselves a substantial raise. Evidently we paid a consultant to offer this valuable advice.
Interesting that the mayor said the budget is “all about our staff”. Evidently the “staff” includes not only the part time city council members, but himself as well. The June 14th edition of the Standard stated that now the new proposed mayor raise would equate to 13% (about $20,000). Of course, in order to facilitate a budget increase to handle these raises, they propose another unwelcome increase in property taxes.
How would it be, if all of us could just have a meeting and vote ourselves a raise? If an elected official doesn’t like the salary the citizens can afford to pay, he should seek employment elsewhere. But then he wouldn’t be able to vote himself a raise, would he? It’s time for those who seek office, to do so in order to serve their constituents without regard to compensation. If that is the only way to obtain qualified individuals, then our system has failed us, regardless of what a “consultant” says.
Those of us in the private sector have struggled through all the adversity thrown at us for the last few years, some have endured lost jobs or pay reductions. Some have lost their businesses while the surviving owners still struggle. Now is hardly the time for taxpayer funded administrators to even suggest that an increase in compensation is appropriate in today’s climate. Assuming the question of ethical integrity is not an issue here, let’s require those involved to at least have pertinent situational awareness.
Larry Waters
Ogden