We will soon be voting on charter amendments. For the umpteenth time the commission is asking for a raise. They have sweetened the pot with nonsense. The commission has begged for a charter amendment to be paid according to the state formula, I’ve lost count how many times.
So why aren’t they paid according to the state scale? Because Miami-Dade is a home rule county. We have our own charter. Buried in that charter is language that gives the people the ability to set commission salaries, and we have kept it at $6,000 for a long time. Maybe we think that is all they are worth. Maybe we resent their perks which are most generous. Maybe we think they have enough. Maybe we don’t like the corruption. Regardless of the reasons it is one way, and about the only way, that people have any control over an unreformable county commission.
Yet, this paltry salary attracts candidates and the incumbents seem happy enough to run over and over. There must be something I am missing. Some argue that raising the salary will “attract better candidates”. It might, but they can’t win with our dysfunctional district voting. Each commissioner has a fiefdom. They keep their own happy and screw the rest of us to keep the lobbyists happy so the campaign money keeps flowing. Short of death, resignation or indictment, they always win.
Now the rest of the story: If we change the charter to pay based on the state formula, we have lost our only control of the commission. Forever more they will be paid by that formula with regular increases as population increases. No more input from us!
I think I will wait for some meaningful charter changes. In the meantime, I want to keep my little control.
9 comments:
Anyone voting to approve the raises deserve the representation they have, the rest of us don't and shouldn't approve them.
Youbetcha that I am hanging tight to what controls I have. I am going to study the heck out of those changes because I am doubtful the public good is going to be served.
It isnt what you read that will get us, it is what is not verbalized that will screw us.
Governance has gotten to be a game in county. County staff and elected officials play it equally well with the constituents. It is a game of seeing what they can do to us without getting caught or at a bare minimum having plausible deniablity when their plans catch them by the short-n-curlys.
The atmosphere of corruption is at all levels - all the way down to the bottom levels with simple things to the higher levels where there is a conscious violation of good practice and laws.
Vote "no" on this one. Use of "consecutive terms" is the first poison pill loophole. Use of state formula allows for automatic upward adjustment of salaries and denies locals the power to control this.
I'm Definately voting no but I still believe that commissioners should be paid the state formula salary, have 2 term limits max, be prohibiting from working ANY outside employment. I believe the "raise" is a necessary evil to ensure that our legislators are focused on one job, without any excuses.
The Commissioners' salary was set in 1957 at $6,000. At that time, the median value of a house in Florida was around $13,000.
It is just silly for anyone to receive the same salary in 2011 that they received in 1957.
Everywhere else in the State, commissioners are paid based upon a state formula, which is controlled by the Florida Legislature and applies across-the-board throughout all of the other 66 counties in Florida.
I get that there is resent, anger, bad feelings. But, at some point, we need to be logical and objective.
Kudos to Guest Blog by we R watching
Till we do away with Home Rule Charter I will vote NO on commissioners salary. Dade County is the only county in the state with a lousy Home Rule Charter standing.
I remember years ago the outcry was: "Down with Castro & Metro"
Riley
I agree that at some point they should be paid a living wage, but not until we get this written in the right way with all the provisions in place. Vote "no".
"until we do away with the home rule charter i will vote NO on commissioners salary."
Clearly you have no idea what the home rule charter is. If you do away with it, you won't have a chance to vote on it. Tallahassee will tell you what Commissioners salary will be, how Commission Meetings are run, who can be Mayor and more.
You will no longer have a say.
Think before you type.
Sadly this always boils down to who's in power now. This shouldn't be a referendum on the incumbents but a discussion about the office in the future.
There is NO CHANCE for most people to run for these offices because of the stupid $6000 thing in the charter. Again I implore people to not make "the perfect the enemy of the good" by tossing this out.
Nearly ALL of the Commissioners fought the idea of "no outside employment" since many of them make way more than that in their other jobs. They even argued that banning outside work would only open the door for "retired and wealthy" to run.
Well, that's nearly everyone on the damn board right now.
Go through the list and you might find many Commissioners that would step down instead of taking the pay cut if this was their only job.
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