Letter: City’s max salaries reason for alarm

From: Ken Fudge

Columbus

Jim Lienhoop recommended and the city council recently unanimously approved big increases to the maximum salaries for city employees, taking the maximum salaries up on average 30 percent from last year, with some annual increases as high as 50 percent.

How Lienhoop came up with these astronomical salaries is a mystery. Eight comparable cities were used. The highest-paid employee of all the comparable cities was the mayor of liberal Bloomington at $103,000.

But nine city of Columbus department heads’ maximum salaries exceed $103,000, going as high as $141,036.

Lienhoop’s recommendation for himself is $115,416, up from $93,521 this year. To take care of his loyal, rubber-stamping city council, Lienhoop recommends that their maximum annual salary go from today’s $7,822 to $17,304, a 121 percent increase.

Of course the elected officials didn’t approve their own salary study increases just yet. They approved all the city employees’ increases which begin in January just in time for the city’s primary election next year. It seems obvious that the elected officials are waiting to give themselves their giant, unjustified pay increases until after they are all safely re-elected next year.

When the city council voted to approve the new maximum salaries for the city employees, a citizen objected that the authorized salaries were by leaps and bounds higher than any city’s salaries in the state.

The president of the city council, Frank Miller, responded, “We are breaking new ground here in Columbus.” Yes Mr. Miller, you are breaking new ground by authorizing ridiculously high salaries to buy the city employees’ and their friends’ and families’ votes with our money. And you’re paving the way to give yourself a 121 percent pay increase after you are re-elected.

The council says the budget they are approving for next year doesn’t include the maximum salaries for everyone. However, by approving the maximum salaries, the mayor can take certain employees (like his political allies) to the maximum with no approval from anyone and no public disclosure.

For example, he can take his campaign manager, Mary Ferdon, and his other campaign supporters like Dave Hayward and Jamie Brinegar to the maximum on Jan. 1 simply by shorting the city employees’ medical expense fund to pay his political allies’ salary increases. No approval and no disclosure necessary.

The maximum salary for Mary Ferdon, director of Community Development, went from $85,516 to $116,768, an increase of 37 percent.

The maximum salary for Dave Hayward, city engineer, went from $95,248 to $141,036, an increase of 48 percent.

The maximum salary for Jamie Brinegar, director of finance, went from $82,647 to $111,149, an increase of 34 percent.

Your tax money is being spent by the mayor to buy political support so he can stay in power.

Columbus, Lienhoop has given you:

  • Multiple tax increases.
  • Monies spent on ridiculous and repetitive studies and consultants.
  • Tax monies given to non-profits for economic development that has produced nothing.
  • Tax monies spent on buying an over-priced, failing shopping mall.

Haven’t you had enough? Isn’t it time for a change? Shouldn’t you be demanding a better stewardship of your hard-earned tax dollars?