The City-County Council made its biggest mistake Monday night. It introduced a measure that would give Councilors a 75-percent pay raise. That’s right, 75-percent. The proposal would raise council pay from just over $11,000 to nearly $20,000. I wrote about this back in November, but there’s nothing like actually seeing the measure on a sheet of paper.

One of the justifications for the raise is that councilors haven’t had an increase in pay since 2000. Well if that’s the case, then the pay should be adjusted for inflation and increased to about $13,000. That number is less egregious than 75-percent. And to add insult to injury, the measure was introduced not only on the day that more than 200 police officers and their families showed up to protest over a 5-percent pay raise that was taken off the table, but the Council had to table a measure that would have given the Sheriff a $52,000 raise and a three-percent salary increase to all other countywide elected offices.

Ironically, I do believe public officials should be paid better because fundamentally, you get what you pay for. However, in tough budget times, the last people to get a raise should be the elected office holders. Someone back at City Hall isn’t thinking. And last night, it showed more than it usually does.

Posted: 12|19|06 at 6:54 am by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
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