The County Commission voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve Chairman Tim Lee’s plan to give employees a 3 percent across-the-board pay hike totaling $4.5 million.
The raises for the county’s 4,182 full-time and 782 part-time employees will be the first in five years and no doubt will be welcomed. As Lee has said, they have been “busting their butts” on behalf of the county.
We don’t doubt that. But private-sector employees in Cobb have been working just as hard, or harder. The fact is that the private sector has been doing more with less than ever before. And for the most part, the private sector has been foregoing raises or end-of-year bonuses for years.
ONE THING IS FOR SURE in the wake of the recent presidential election: Taxes for most of Americans soon will be going up. The cost of living will keep going up, too.
Moreover, Obamacare looks like it is here to stay — and businesses are quietly but most assuredly slashing payroll and expenses in preparation for it.
There is a growing distrust of government at all levels across the country. Cobb and its six cities can do their part to help rebuild that trust by keeping the taxpayers’ interest first. That means continuing to look for ways to shrink government and lower taxes — not ways of growing the two.
That lack of trust could have important implications on future SPLOST votes as well. The most recent county SPLOST passed by just 89 votes, and many are already speculating that the school SPLOST coming in March will be DOA. Handing out thousands of raises totaling millions of dollars during a time of such economic uncertainty sends the message that government is more important than taxpayers. That’s a message that’s been delivered far too often through the years.
LEE’S PAY RAISES are being funded by a $4.5 million surplus in the county’s medical and dental account. Meanwhile, the county enjoyed a budget surplus of nearly $18 million in FY12, which ended Sept. 30. That’s a welcome development after several years of seeing the budget and tax digest hammered by the recession.
But let’s not forget that the commission raised the property tax rate last year, although Lee says the tax hike had no bearing on the resulting surplus.
Lee and the commission agreed on Tuesday to give back a small piece of that increase to taxpayers. The general fund millage will be cut by 0.2 mills. And he says he hopes to keep rolling the millage back by 0.2 mills per year till it gets back to the 9.6 mills, where it was before last year’s increase.
We hope if excess funds are found in the future, the commission will see fit to accelerate the 5-year rollback plan in favor of the taxpayer.
Also on Tuesday, the Commission took welcome steps to deep-six a proposed water-rate fee increase that had been planned for January.
LEE REASSURED his fellow commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting that “leading economists” had told him the pay raises are sustainable. Is he “whistling past the graveyard”? Perhaps. After all, economist Albert W. Niemi Jr., dean of the business school at SMU, told Cobb business leaders at an annual business forecast breakfast Tuesday at the Cobb Performing Arts Center that the economy will not rebound to pre-recession numbers until 2025. Moreover, the White House and Congress seem determined to send the country “off the fiscal cliff,” which could send the economy back into free-fall. And more layoffs are expected at one of the county’s biggest private employers, Lockheed Martin.
All in all, it’s a dicey scenario in which to be coughing up across-the-board raises. The better approach would have been to hand out year-end bonuses, as suggested by southeast Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott and others. They would have rewarded employees without committing the county — and taxpayers — for years to come.
“We don’t know what funds will be available in the future,” Ott said. “Yes, there are some economic indicators that show recovery. However, in light of upcoming changes to the tax laws and health care, the county needs to ensure those indicators remain strong before committing to a permanent change in the salary structure.”
But instead, Lee and the other four commissioners decided to splurge and hand out raises — “a gift that keeps giving.” And it’s Cobb taxpayers who will be doing the giving.
Follow us on Twitter!
I applaud this move by the Commission and my only complaint is that it was not a 5-0 vote in favor.
Supposing they'd been receiving 2% raises each year for the last 5 years:
2008: 30000 2% = 30600
2009: 30600 2% = 31212
2010: 31212 2% = 31836
2011: 31386 2% = 32472
2012: 32472 2% = 33122
2% is the most useless raise I can imagine being given, but $33,122 - $30,900 is $2,222 that a Cobb employee is STILL behind in salary compared to the most useless annual raise I can think of.
In real dollars, a $30,000 employee has lost $9,242 over the last 5 years by not even getting a paltry 2% raise.
SO... If we are to have Cobb Government, and thus Cobb Government employees, let's treat them like human beings, huh? Otherwise if we can't do that, let's shut Cobb Government down and join, um, Fulton? Cherokee? Bartow? City of Atlanta?
You pick one you like and we'll join them. Otherwise let's keep Cobb Government and at the very least try to keep the employees up with inflation.
And yes, I know the sick leave buy back bonus is voluntary and that not all Cobb employees do that. If you want it, though, it's an existing way for you to get a (nearly) 2% bonus in December.
Really? Show me a company with a high demand for its services that furloughs its trained employees, cuts bonuses, and drives them away by paying below market. We should just pay the people we depend on as if we're in the buggy-whip industry, huh?
I do think it is a little misguided to suggest it has been a cake walk for those of us in the private sector the last 4 years. I have watched dedicated professionals get laid-off, not because their businesses weren't profitable, but because of the uncertainty of the times and future economic worries. These folks have lost homes, savings, ALL retirement options and hope. I do not remember Cobb laying-off. Yes, people lost wages in thwe form of furloughs, but by and large they have kept some semblence of an income coming in while keeping most of their benefits. I am not taking away from them any wish of money or opportunity, but let's be honest, they have a safety net maybe the public at large does not enjoy, and that is worth something.
We in Cobb County enjoy some of the lowest tax rates in the entire Metro Atlanta area. For as much whining and complaining that goes on around here, you'd think that would count for something.
At least that is what I see at my work place because pay raises are very permanent and the economy is very volatile.