That’s right, your eyes are not deceiving you. Future elected officials should be paid more-much more.
As a former elected official who did not run for office for the money, I will provide some very good reasons to support my claim. FYI, I never voted myself a raise or asked for more money for auto mileage. In fact, I never submitted an expense report in my 3 years of service. This is very typical of most elected officials in the Falls and Germantown.
Fact: An average board member will save your community or school district hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a good one will save millions in the long term.
Fact: A bad board member will cost taxpayers millions and continue to cost you even when they move on (example: Milwaukee County Pension Scandal). They don’t care if they raise your taxes, or about the decline of performance, as much as they are liked. Everyone, good, bad, or mediocre, is paid the same wage, about $4,500 a year. Would you trust your personal finances to someone who only made that much in a year?
Let’s look at the perceived problems: “Elected officials don’t run government or school districts like a business.” “They don’t care about raising taxes.” “They don’t care about delivering a quality product/service.” “Nobody who could do a better job runs for election.” (I don’t believe any of this to be entirely true, but examples of this can be seen everywhere you go.)
Now let’s pretend you are the owner of an enterprise where all, or some, of the above examples were true of management. What would you do?
When a company is in trouble, owners usually seek a proven top-gun(s) to come in and turn things around. Higher pay is always necessary, and expectations, time-lines, and results go with it. With taxpayers, it is the opposite.
When serving on a board, I will admit, I was more interested in getting results than what someone was paid. However, I was more prone to fire someone, or freeze the pay of anyone who was not performing. That ensures results, or consequences. Results mean more savings, better performance, lower taxes, and better value for taxpayers. Consequences bring faster management changes if results and goals are not met.
Let the free market, capitalism, and competition apply to elections. Higher pay will bring out more quality candidates, or at least, a larger selection of candidates. Some of our best school board members were/are stay at home moms. Many moms have told me they were interested in running but would be better off finding a higher paying part time job that would not conflict with family time. We could tap into that market with higher pay.
How many employers are happy to have their employees spend less time on the job to attend committee meetings? None, and few who would admit it. How many professionals could bill more hours or make more sales that are commissionable if they were not spending 4, 9, or more hours a week serving the public? The answer: the very few who are generous enough to stick their neck out for their community or those who could not make $4,500 on the open job market.
Paying more will not eliminate opportunists, quite the opposite, but it should inspire more candidates and interest in elections because people should expect more for their money. If the electorate chooses poorly, paying someone more, or less, would not change that result anyway. Vigilance is a price we pay for Democracy and it can pay dividends.
Being in office can be good for business, but the reverse is also true. If you make the hard decisions, as you are supposed to do, few will like you, many won’t care, and some will hunt you down like Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. When someone or a bogus group makes accusations about you, or your business, it can be detrimental even if they are complete fabrications. What person would run for office under those conditions? Someone very committed or someone who should be committed. Higher pay would narrow that spectrum.
I suggest raising the minimum salary of board members to $12,000. The pay increase would take place when the newly elected person taking an incumbent’s position is sworn in. That way nobody votes for his or her own pay increase and the field of candidates opens up immediately.
If you like your elected representative, support them and reelect them. If not, let’s fill the ballot with some fresh candidates.
Yes, yes, public service should be selfless, but most elected officials, who don’t run for the money, also put in time at church, Rotary, schools, community service, etc. so let’s not try and put a guilt trip on them for not being noble. Many miss their kid’s baseball games, wife’s birthdays, etc. to make meetings or keep their full time jobs. Serving is already a personal sacrifice; it should not be a financial one too.
