Opinion : Our Supervisors only get "part time" pay: Poor, poor, rich men

I have to admit I did some eye-rolling during the supervisor's meeting today. But to be honest, I think it's just a default setting for my eyeballs.

Our poor, poor supervisors. Can we please set up a gofundme page for them? These poor guys, my, my. They are bringing in a mere $51,664.61 a year for their PART-TIME gig.

Today was another time that I thought "People with a lot of zeroes in their bank account should NOT be in government positions." But, it seems like that's how it works. 

Today the discussion of county raises came up. This year the Compensation Board had proposed a 3% increase for the elected officials. (At least it wasn't the crazy 10% raise that they got last year. You will never convince me that 10% is EVER acceptable. Sorry, you won't. I don't care WHAT the inflation number is.)

I unpacked my teeny tiny violin and tuned up the strings as I listened to the supervisor lament. (Cue the violin music playing in the background.) On the heels of citing another county that is having to lay off county employees because they made some bad financial decisions. 

"What should we do, what should we do, what should we do? We work FULL-TIME hours for PART-TIME pay. If the supervisors don't get this raise, you'll only get retired guys to run the show here. We need to be competitive!" Or something like that they sang.

Two things.

One.

I always bristle when the topic of having "competitive wages" comes up in the county and city. It's such an insane way to determine wages. THAT discussion goes something like this.

When the "Back the Blue" law went into effect, the Sheriff had to make a case for what he should make based on what other counties the same case was made. So we raised our rate. 

We raise our wages, and another county says, "Benton County just raised THEIR wages, so now WE need to!" The next year, Benton County looks at that county and says, "Hey, they raised THEIR wages, so WE need to...we have to be "competitive..of course." So we raise our wages again.

The former county attorney did the same with his wages. Now granted, I'm not saying it's wrong, it's just a weird way to decide the worth of an employee.

Let's go back to the county that had to lay off employees. At this rate the only paid people in the county will be the elected officials. When do we go for the "STOP SPENDING" scenario? 

Our poor, supervisors though, bless their hearts, they make a mere $51,664.61 each year for this part-time job. Now mind you, they believe their work is full-time, but it's probably an old guy thing. The Chairman of the Board makes an additional $5,000 a year for the title of Chairman. As Chairman, there are more "full-time hours" responsibilities. They have to sign the official paperwork. I suppose that causes more pain in arthritic fingers so I can understand.

So at a PART-TIME salary of $56,664.61, for the Chairman, the case was made that they too need more money to "be competitive." The case was made that if we didn't give the Supervisors a raise that we could only get retired guys to do the job.

TWO.

Just think about that for a second. Now if they can promise that we will no longer get old retired guys to run for supervisor simply by raising their pay...would the butt smacking stop? Would the threats to my family stop when I write about you? Will bending the rules to hire family so they can be set up with benefits stop? 

I think he's onto something. It's time to get rid of retired guys who make decisions for our county. if you retire, this is NOT the job for you! You get soft. You feel sorry for the younger kids. You make decisions that are not good for the county. You want life to be so good for your employees while forgetting that everyone is paying for your decisions. 

You are also at the age where you have learned how to push through things as if you are running your own business which you are not. You think increasing the work force in jobs that are not productive is a good idea. You create positions that aren't needed.

At this time in your life, your idea of what a part-time paycheck is is out of whack. Can someone PLEASE pay me that same part-time wage for the hours I spend doing this job? No, oh that's right, because I live in the real world.

I don't own houses in two states. Nor have I had a vacation in 30 years. Nor do I envy the people who take vacations and own property in two states.

However, I will not sit here and feel sorry for your "part-time" salary that is given to you off of my back, the taxpayer. I make nothing like those numbers at this job, and I would guess that most people in the county don't make that in their real FULL- TIME jobs. 

I'm always torn on who should hold office. Should it be the people who have a lot of zeroes in their bank account and who believe that this wage amount is "part-time" pay? If they feel this way, it means that they've made it big in life. Or should it be people like me who still understand the value of a dollar and don't toss around money? 

I have a change jar at my house. Why? Pennies matter.

Pack up that tiny whiny violin guys. 

$50,000+ for a part-time job, can someone get me one of those puleaze?

Seriously.

P.S. I probably should clarify that when the Supervisors approve the new pay increases for the elected officials, it will increase their pay automatically, this is normal. Crazy that they decide on their own pay but that's how Iowa law has it set up.