I always thought the 27th Amendment to the Constitution was a little strange — it’s the one that prohibits Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise. Why would something so obviously fraudulent need to be written into law? Surely, no elected official would be of such low moral character as to vote to use taxpayer funds to increase their own compensation. Right?
Wrong. It turns out human beings can be quite self-serving, given the chance.
Last week, in a 4-1 decision, three elected Park City Council members (and one non-elected City Council member) approved to more than double their salaries. Not for some future council or mayor during the next election cycle, but for themselves, now. If you can stomach it, I urge you to watch the public video of the vote.
You can give a dozen reasons why you think this is a good idea, but none of them will make sense to the residents who pay taxes. Sure, a modest inflation-based raise is appropriate. You could even argue a larger raise might be warranted if the salaries haven’t been addressed in a decade. But an increase of over 100% for the current voting members without any oversight is pure comedy.
The Park Record letters to the editor are littered with criticism of our national government. But if you’re frustrated by how the government operates at the federal level, you should be infuriated by what is happening at home.
Here’s a summary of the first six months of the current city leadership.
First, the new mayor hand-picked his own replacement for the vacant council seat with complete disregard to community input.
Then, the new council approved a high-density housing project on city land that was originally purchased for an arts and cultural community center.
And now — with the exception of Bill Ciraco — they all agreed to use tax money to pay themselves more.
When I teach my kids about public service, I’m not sure this is the model I will use.
But hey, on the positive side, only three and a half more years to go.
Brian George
Prospector