ACM Ryan Ward got up on the dais last night and said we need an immediate 3% COLA for everyone working for the City. That will supposedly hold them over until they can hand out much larger “adjustments” in a few months when budget talks start.
[I’m not going to hold my breath that any of the supposedly “overpaid” positions like Police Chief and Librarian get ‘adjusted’ down to normal]
But let’s take a look at the recent past and some nice fat raises and benefit increases that were implemented when there was basically NO inflation. Here are a few examples:
June 24, 2013 council packet – Proposing a three percent (3%) global increase which would be $117,000 budget impact. The new health premiums increased three percent (3%) and would like to budget $71,000 to assist employees with 25 percent (25%) of dependent premiums. Possible staffing adjustments and modifications: one (1) Water/Wastewater employee; one (1) Firefighter (shared cost with County); possibly one (1) full time Economic Development Coordinator (shared cost with Lampasas Economic Development Corporation “LEDC”). CPI for 2013 was only 1.5%. Raises are DOUBLE rate of inflation.
July 25th, 2014 – Initial budget assumptionscall for a 4 percent increase in total salary expenses, although deGraffenried said that does not necessarily mean an across the-board 4 percent raise is suggested. In the budget approved last year, total salaries increased 3 percent. Mayor Pro Tem Wanda Bierschwale said she would like to see employees get “a goodly raise”and for the city to pay a portion of retiree health care costs. Mrs. Bierschwale also said she would like to increase the dependent cost share. White said he supports a 50 percent health care cost share for retirees and a 4 percent raise for all employees. Councilman Chuck Williamson also said he favors 4 percent raises.
[That idiot Bierschwale certainly was generous with other people’s money, wasn’t she?? White and Bierschwale are long gone…but that fat 50% health care cost share remains…as does that fat raise – every year for the last 8 years. So – we see a huge raise AND a ridiculous bump in benefits: increasing the share the taxpayers pay for employees’ dependents AND for City retirees who have ALREADY gotten tons of benefits over their careers. CPI for 2014 was only 1.6%…raises are therefore 2.5 times the rate of inflation.]
Aug 14, 2015 – The council is considering a 5 percent increase in city employees’ salaries. The original suggestion submitted to the council was for a 4 percent pay boost, but Mayor Pro Tem Misti Talbert [the original Drunken Sailor] and Councilman Robert McCauley proposed giving a 5 percent raise. CPI for 2015 was 0.1%. Raises are therefore FIFTY TIMES LARGER than rate of inflation. This was the beginning of the profligate Toups administration.
Let’s pause here a moment. CPI is up 3.1% over those three years and employee raises totaled about TWELVE PERCENT over that time. Nobody bothers to mention all of this. That doesn’t even include the generous INCREASE in benefits covering employee dependents and City retirees.
Here are some more random raises from before inflation went haywire:
Aug 4, 2017 – Mike White also warned the trend of rising insurance costs will continue – which he said will impose a greater burden on the city each year. Last year, the city’s cost increase was 4 percent, the finance director said. CPI for 2017 was 2.1% –therefore benefit increases were almost TWICE inflation rate.
8/3/18 (Dispatch) – Chamber of Commerce salary. TJ Monroe says $45,000 isn’t enough. Needs to be $65,000 to $70,000 [National average is $49,000] – Ergo, TJ Monroe wants a 48% increase in Chamber of Commerce salary…the CPI in 2018 was 2.4%
7/27/19 – Lampasas County Appraisal District Commissioner’s Court voted 4-1 to approve their new budget – which includes a 4% increase in salaries. Previous year’s salary increase was 11% – for a two-year increase of 15%! CPI for 2019 was 1.8%
8/16/19 – The council discussed salaries Monday, and multiple council members said “market adjustments” may be needed to make Lampasas’ pay more competitive with the compensation in nearby entities (sounds familiar?) CPI for 2019 was 1.8%.
8/10/20 council meeting: budget proceedings – Finley asks for 3% raises for everyone once again. CPI in 2020 was 1.2%. ONCE AGAIN, raises are DOUBLE the inflation rate.
Between 2019 and 2020, salary for IT Director Monica Wright increased 7.8% from $73,397 to $79,115. CPI for 2020 was 1.2% – or SIX AND A HALF TIMES HIGHER than inflation. She possess NO network certifications!
Between 2019 and 2020, salary for Network Administrator Kristy Acevdeo jumped 9.4% from $52,674 to $57,639. CPI for 2020 was 1.2%. Her raise was therefore 7.8x higher than inflation
[Also don’t forget, the IT Department workload DECREASED greatly when the police department decided to take the police servers out of the hands of Monica and Kristy and pay someone else to do it. Also don’t forget that TSM Consulting does a LOT of their work for them, at a huge cost to the City]
Between 2019 and 2020, salary for police chief Sammy Bailey jumped from $92,493 to 103,387 – an 11.8% increase! CPI was 1.2% that year – almost TEN TIMES the rate of inflation.
[I’m sure that huge bump had NOTHING to do with artificially increasing her ‘average salary’ for pension purposes right before retirement, right?]
In 2020 – Finley deGraffenreid got a raise of 15%….from $130,000 to $150,000. Inflation that year was 1.2% – a raise that was about 12.5 x faster than inflation!!! Don’t forget that Finley also has an assistant now (that was Misti Talbert’s idea years ago) – so his workload is actually LESS as he makes MORE. See how that works?
9/20/21 – City handed out “paid quarantine leave” to public safety employees of the City (front page Dispatch). Nice little perk!
So I say this to ACM Ward and City Manager deGraffenreid: Gimme a fucking break.
My advice to anyone with the City making $90k or $100k or $200k in salary and benefits is that you should have saved more during those ridiculously generous years instead of taking four annual vacations and buying a brand new $60,000 vehicle every 3 years. THAT’S how it works in the real world.
These idiots need to go and re-read the fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper.
The City is infested with grasshoppers – mostly at the top. You want to give raises to the guys doing actual work? The guys fixing water pipes and sewer mains and electric lines and the guys mowing lawns for $12? Maybe bump them to $18 or $20? I’m fine with that – they deserve it. All these other Nerf jobbers making six figures to sit in an airconditioned City Hall? Fuck that.
Time to say NO to ever-increasing salaries.
Total expenditures for the 2015/2016 City budget were $9.462 million. For the 2020/2021 budget it was $12.175 million – a 29% increase. Increase in the CPI during those 5 years? Under 10%. Expenditures increased roughly TRIPLE the rate of inflation!!
The Finley School of Thought? Big raises during boom times but also big raises during the shitty times too! No time is a good time to tighten the belt in government spending. The taxpayer can go suck a big one.
Next up: a review of teacher raises during the low inflation years!