Waco Trib - Letter to the Editor - 7/25/13 Get serious From Tuesday’s Trib, it’s obvious that County Commissioner Ben Perry is working on another gimmick to convince the taxpayers of McLennan County that the entire commissioners court is serious about reducing costs. They are not. The new plan asks county commissioners to donate 5 percent of their salaries to McLennan County coffers. This just benefits them. Here’s why: First, they get to take a tax deduction. Second, if it’s done by means of a donation, their actual rate of pay is not changed and they do not have to worry about voting themselves an increase in the future, eliminating any public outcry. Nice try, Mr. Perry. Now some real ideas for the court to consider: Cut all “executive” pay in the county by 15 percent or 20 percent. Commissioners make about $90,000 now. Well, $72,000 or $76,500 sounds a lot better to me for what the job entails. Cut all department budgets by 5 percent or 10 percent across the board except for our law enforcement. The number of justice-of-the-peace positions should mirror county commissioner precincts. Cut these positions from seven to four with emphasis on the two in the courthouse. There were only a total of 35 murders and on-scene traffic deaths combined in this area in 2011. Although that is not the only task for JPs, that many JPs simply cannot be justified. Also, from an employment and salary standpoint, it is much less expensive to pay an employee a little overtime than to have another employee. Furthermore, in an article in the Trib last week commissioners were quoted as saying that they were going to “look into” the JPs’ workload and tasking. How come they do not know this already? Eliminate cost-of-living pay increases unless it’s contractual. In private industry, if a company has come upon hard times, there are no raises of any kind. Re-examine health care costs. Deductibles, co-pays and employee contributions may need to be raised. Eliminate perks like banking sick days. Most private industries have moved to a “PTO” (paid time off) system that does not differentiate between sick leave and vacation time based upon years of service. Furthermore, when a certain number of these PTO days are reached, it usually becomes “use it or lose it” unless there is approval from an executive. Carryover is rare. These are just a few suggestions. It’s time to stop dancing around the fluff to try to make the taxpayers feel good. Get serious. J.L. Rader, Waco
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:26:58 +0000
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