QCOnline: Say no to pay hikes
Editorial: Say no to pay hikes
Posted Online: June 01, 2010, 2:40 pm
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The Dispatch and The Rock Island
Color us surprised and pleased, at least cautiously so.
Though we back Rock Island County board member Rich Morthland’s effort to drop pay hikes for three countywide officeholders elected this year, we never expected that the board’s lone Republican could convince eight Democratic board members to join him in petitioning the clerk to call for a special session to reconsider the question.
Despite the holiday weekend, opponents got the job done and a special meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the county office building, 1504 3rd. Ave., Rock Island.
We salute the board members who joined Mr. Morthland in signing the special meeting request: Don Jacobs, (District 6), Phil Fuhr (District 25), Virgil Dueysen (District 5), John Malvik (District 18), Karen Kinney (District 17), Wanda Sweat (District 12), Steve Meersman (District 7) and Fred Schultz (District 3). We were particularly pleased some who had backed the pay increases, including Mr. Jacobs, agreed to reopen the discussion.
Of course, that also illustrates the challenge ahead.
Indeed, just because a meeting has been scheduled doesn’t mean pay raise opponents can declare victory; far from it. Convincing a third of the county board to talk about the issue is a lot easier than convincing a dozen Democrats to rescind the raises, particularly given the original lopsided 19-6 vote to boost the sheriff, county clerk and treasurer pay.
Real reason for hope
Still the special session offers hope.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Mr. Morthland. “It’s tremendously more likely than it was 10 days ago.”
Critics say that Mr. Morthland is using the pay hikes to aid him politically in his bid to replace retiring state Rep. Mike Boland. The East Moline Democrat, who has often feuded with county Democrats, no doubt helped by seeking and winning House approval of a measure to freeze county officeholder wages. It was, of course, doomed to failure from the beginning. Senators are unlikely to consider such an unwarranted and likely unconstitutional intrusion of local government powers.
It did, however, draw needed attention to the pay hike issue and for that, we’re grateful. As for whether Mr. Morthland’s campaign is politically motivated; frankly, we don’t care. As elected officials are fond of telling us, you can’t take politics out of government, but you can take advantage of them when given the opportunity. The bottom line is whether or not the action serves the public. Rescinding these raises would.
Mr. Morthland credits voters for the progress made so far. “(Board members) are responding to the public pressure,” he said. “I really hope that the people continue to remind them that they don’t want this.”
We do, too. Indeed, one of the best things to come from this discussion is the public outcry. Too-often in this one-party dominated county, the voters seem to be of little consequence in most decisions. For that reason alone, the public debate is worth celebrating.
Wrong time for pay hikes, period
We don’t know how the vote will go Thursday, but we know how it should; it is wrong for the county board to increase already generous pay for county officeholders while they consider layoffs and furloughs of front-line workers to balance the budget.
It is not enough that the pay raises, which would be phased in in 2012 and 2013, can be frozen if the economy does not improve. They should not even be considered in the present financial climate, particularly when they are generous wages by just about any standard. Proponents say that the hikes are needed to compete with the private sector. At $82,500 clerk and treasurer salary and $92,500 for sheriff, we believe they are already sufficiently competitive with a public sector that continues to reduce salaries, increase benefit costs and downsize long-time workers.
Board members have taken the first step to fix this. Now they should take the next and vote to rescind the pay hikes.