Self-approved 18 percent pay increase earns county commissioners a meeting with angry constituents
September 22, 2006
Self-approved 18 percent pay increase earns county commissioners a meeting with angry constituents. Check it out:(Beaumont Enterprise, The (Texas) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 22--BEAUMONT -- Simmering anger over the hefty pay raises Jefferson County commissioners plan to give themselves erupted at a public hearing Thursday evening.
At what ostensibly was a hearing on the proposed property tax rate of 40 cents per $100 valuation, dozens filled the commissioner's courtroom to blast salary hikes for elected officials.
The 18 percent salary increase commissioners voted to give themselves "has the appearance of arrogance and greed," said Bruce Drury, a Lamar University professor who spoke at the hearing.
Even if the raise could be justified, commissioners should reject it to regain the trust of voters after the financial fiasco of Ford Park, Drury said.
Commissioner Eddie Arnold was the lone dissenter in the vote last month to include the pay raises in the 2006-07 budget, and he has said he will keep no more than the 5 percent awarded to county employees.
Other county elected officials got raises ranging from 5 percent to 16 percent.
In one stunt that garnered some laughter and lots of applause, Doug Conner, chairman of the Jefferson County GOP, brought six-year old Hattie to the podium.
Hattie's family still is coping with the property damage they suffered from Hurricane Rita, Conner said as he emptied the girl's "Little Princess" piggy bank onto the podium.
"Hattie, these men need your money to give themselves raises," Conner said.
But commissioners were unmoved. Commissioner Mark Domingue, in an interview after the hearing, blamed misinformation for much of the public anger.
"This is a very small clique of politicos trying to make political hay for the Republican Party," Domingue said.
Domingue said a commissioner's job is comparable to that of city managers in his Mid-County precinct.
Compared to city managers, commissioners have long been underpaid, Domingue said.
The proposed budget raises commissioner salaries from $73,362 to $86,508.
But Billy Job, the Republican candidate for county judge and the former mayor of Groves, scoffed at the comparison.
"I know every city manager in Jefferson County, and each one does more work in a day than a commissioner does in a week," Job said.
Both Job and Ron Walker, the Democratic nominee for county judge, have said the pay hikes for elected officials are excessive.
But at Thursday's hearing they clashed over the 2.5 cent reduction in the county's property tax rate commissioners have proposed.
Job urged commissioners to adopt a 10-cent cut, a move that was supported by several speakers at the hearing.
"A 2.5 cent cut buys a nice dinner for my wife," said Chris McKinney, a Beaumont resident who spoke at the hearing. "But 10 cents gets me the new fence I need in my backyard -- that's meaningful."
But Walker blasted the 10-cent proposal as a political gimmick that would leave the county's fund balance dangerously low.
A final vote on the budget and tax rate is set for Sept. 25, after commissioners conduct a hearing on the budget itself.
While those at Thursday's hearing were vocal in their opposition to the commissioners' pay hikes, none claimed responsibility for the signs that sprang up throughout Beaumont featuring the circled number 18 with a slash through it.
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