Blog from Daily Herald report Joe Pyrah here:
http://sausagegrinding.blogspot.com/2009/11/game-on.html
Text of blog below:
I skipped doing a published story on Joel Wright's formal announcement as candidate for county commission because he didn't announce an opponent. (I did mention his intention back in September on the Grinder.)
It's not too easy to write a story when you can't stack someone up against an opponent. It's either Steve White or Gary Anderson, but those guys are so different that it's not like Wright can make a blanket statement that covers them both.
But today, Wright poked the hornets nest to see what would happen. At the weekly commission meeting, he got up during the public comment portion and said that while commissioners did a good job with the 2010 budget, they should have rescinded the 2008 salary increases to ease the burden on taxpayers.
"The market right now, I think, would not lead to many employees leaving," he said, then added he'd put the raises back in place once the economy improved.
Anderson went straight into campaign mode, claiming that the employees didn't get a raise in 2009 or 2010 which amounts to a 5 percent pay cut because of the increase in cost of living. (I reject that methodology as public employee BS, but whatever.)
He leans into the mic and says "I appreciate our employees doing more with less."
Of course, it's hard to convey the mood of a room and the passive-aggressive nature of Utah politicians, but it made for a fun 30 seconds.
MY COMMENT ON BLOG ABOVE:
I appreciate our County Commissioners balancing Utah County's budget for 2010, and I also appreciate they had to make painful cuts in order to do so. But those cuts were simply insufficient given the current state of the economy.
Our County Commissioners raised our property tax rate about 8.5% in 2009 in order to keep their property tax revenue steady. That's like feeding your horse less, but still expecting it to do just as much work.
If the County Commissioners had already cut everything they could, then it would be defensible, but they haven't.
All county employees, including the County Commissioners, got a big raise in 2008, just before the biggest recession of our life time set in. At a minimum, they should roll that salary increase back entirely before raising our property tax rates in this this tough economy.
Very few, if any, Utah County employees are going to quit right now if their salaries go back to 2007 levels. There just aren't that many other jobs out there. Note further that we are experiencing deflation now, so a salary decrease becomes more reasonable. Note also the Utah State Legislators cut their salary earlier this year when they were cutting everyone else's budget.
Bottom Line: Until the County Commissioners have cut everything they can, they should NOT raise our property tax rates. And I believe they can still reasonably cut all salaries, including their salaries, back to 2007 levels.
