Written by Roberta Biros
Today’s editorial in The Herald mirrors my sentiments and I think it is worth discussing.
In late May, I published a piece titled “Pennsylvania Budget Cuts Trickle Down to Counties”. In it, I explained how budget cuts at the State level will inevitably trickle down to already struggling counties like Mercer. County leaders need to take this into account when attempting to balance their own strained budgets. At the time, I made a specific recommendation that County leaders need to lead by example and take voluntary pay cuts (through a donation of a portion of their salary back to the County’s general fund). By making this good will gesture, they would make it clear that they are willing to take tough cuts to make ends meet. I specifically proposed the following:
If Mercer County Commissioners are really serious, they should lead by example. I propose that the elected officials in Mercer County should take an immediate and voluntary 10% pay cut. Just like many State Legislators voluntarily returned their pay raises to the State, County Officials should voluntarily return 10% of their salary to the County through a give-back to the County’s general fund. If it is necessary to implement layoffs or shutdowns in the courthouse, perhaps the Commissioners should suggest a Countywide four-day work week for County employees. The County Officials could again lead by example by refunding an additional 20% of their salaries too. I’m talking about all County Elected Officials here . . . Commissioners, Controller, Recorder of Deeds, Prothonotary, and . . . yes . . . Treasurer.
The financial problems of the state and counties are serious. Serious problems call for serious measures. County leaders shouldn’t just sit back and blame their problems on the State Legislature. Instead, they should control their own ‘houses’ by operating within their own budgets. There are no cuts that should be off the table, and every opportunity for saving should be considered. Cut backs in benefits and labor contracts should be ‘on the table’, but it is important for elected officials to suck it up too. Self imposed cuts from County leaders would serve as a good-will gesture to labor unions (not to mention to the taxpayers of Mercer County).
On Thursday of this week, The Herald reported that the negotiations between Mercer County Commissioners and the unions failed to bring about any cost savings. As per the story in The Herald:
Mercer County’s plan to scale back personnel costs during a rough-and-tumble budget year hit a snag Wednesday when workers said “no” to dropping one day from every two-week pay period. [click HERE to read the full story]
As a follow-up to Thursday’s story, The Herald published an opinion piece today titled “Can county employees cut costs without losing pay?” In it, The Herald backs my opinion when they state:
We can’t help but wonder if the union votes would have been different if
commissioners and row officers had first made some personal sacrifices. [click HERE
to read the full story]
My Opinion?
The County Commissioners and other County Officials showed unreasonable arrogance by walking into negotiations with county-employee unions without first making drastic cutbacks and sacrifices of their own. Leadership should start at the TOP, and County leaders should set an example of their own. In this case, however, I think we have a situation of the “fish rotting from the head down” instead.
As always, just my opinion.
Roberta Biros, Mercer County Conservatives
Mercer County Conservatives 