It’s not just that our utility rates have increased far faster than the inflationary background, so too have the salaries for the Town’s executive staff – the Town Clerk, the Public Works Superintendent, and the Police Chief. Our Town Clerk was hired in 2001, and at that time the Salary was about $38,500 per year. This year, her total wage compensation will be nearly $70,000… an increase from 2001 of about 80 percent. During this same time-frame, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for salaries, goods, and services increased about 43 percent. In other words, the rate that Mayor Snow increased her wages (and those of the other executive staff) was almost twice that for the “average” you would expect in the real world! It is also interesting to note, that the Town increased its B&O taxes on our utility from 5% to 18% during the last ten years to, in part, cover these disproportionately high salaries. By indirectly charging us (the utility customers) these “optional” high tax rates, the Town can move those funds around such that they can be used to pay for non-utility costs (including executive staff salaries). For the most part (again in the real world), executive positions are considered FLSA exempt (that is they do not qualify for overtime pay), however, not so in Coulee Dam where as much as an additional $24,000 is added to the wages for at least one of our department heads. It’s not unusual for our Town to pay a wage-only compensation of nearly $90,000. Add to that the costs of town-paid benefits, and our total cost for an executive staff employee can be as much as $120,000! And you wonder why our utility costs are so high… There is a connection and that connection is ingrained and expected regardless of the “comparable worth” and salaries of other cities and towns of similar size and complexity. We can adjust. We should adjust.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:26:03 +0000
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