|
 E-mail Story Print Friendly
Opinion editorials Handling of Pit Appeal Calls for a Time-Out |
Front Page 
opinion editorialsThis editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers
.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Salary Commission A Ballot Bait and Switch
The Albuquerque City Council sounds so very accountable in proposing a charter amendment for the Oct. 6 ballot — the establishment of a “Citizens' Independent Salary Commission.”
It's anything but.
The question would ask voters to authorize a five-member panel that would review council and mayoral pay, then file a salary schedule with the city clerk. New salaries would kick in at the beginning of the mayor's or councilors' next term.
Councilor Debbie O'Malley is very likely right, and councilors probably do deserve more than the $10,608 a year they get for what is indisputably an extremely demanding part-time job. (They are quick to point out their counterparts at the county make three times that.) City charter task force member David Campbell might also be right, and the meager pay could be keeping highly qualified people who really represent the community from running for office.
But Albuquerque voters have systematically said no to paying city councilors more. Deciding to do an end-run around them by setting up a five-person committee and labeling it “citizen” is paternalistic at best, disingenuous at worst. The registered-voter citizens have spoken on this and should continue to.
The salary-committee proposal joins around a dozen proposed council-approved amendments for the City Charter. Two promise real independence from political pressure — selecting the city clerk and city attorney after a competitive hiring process overseen by the mayor and requiring two-thirds of the council to approve their hiring and firing. Another — a committee to resolve disputes between the mayor and council as well as determine who has authority to do what under the City Charter — could help ease ages-old tensions and save taxpayers court costs when things escalate, like the recent budget fight.
But the salary-committee plan is a wolf in accountability clothing. Mayor Martin Chávez accurately calls it “a sneaky way to get pay raises for officials. You avoid public scrutiny and accountability.”
You also run the risk of a bait-and-switch at the ballot, in which voters approve what they think is a good-government pay oversight move while rejecting real reforms and an extension of a transportation sales tax that actually fixes the roads and sidewalks and buses and trails Albuquerqueans use every day.
Like the salary commission amendment, the transportation tax extension is being proposed in a tough economy in the wake of myriad political scandals that have voters wanting accountability.
Thanks to the City Council, they will have to read their ballots very carefully to get it.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
