Pay increase demand shows principles

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Editor,

Noblesville Mayor Ditslear says his pay raise request is based on principle. I say his request tells me all I need to know about the mayor’s principles.

In case you missed it, the Common Council gave the mayor a 5 percent pay raise for 2013 at Tuesday’s Council meeting. That was after he requested a 10 percent pay raise for himself in his budget. That’s right, while the recession lingers on, unemployment hovers near 6 percent in Noblesville (still the highest in the county), nonprofits continue to cut services because donations are down, businesses struggle to keep their doors open, most of us are just grateful to have jobs, and city employees are being awarded 2.5 percent raises, the mayor thinks he deserves 10 percent.

Addressing the council before the vote, the mayor quoted New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and said it’s much easier to make popular decisions than to make tough ones. He says he prefers to be respected than loved, so we can presume a 10 percent raise is what he needs to be respected. In this case, the tough decision was the one that would add $10,000 to his personal bank account next year.

The argument here is the same one made by overpaid CEO’s to their boards of directors. If you don’t pay more money, the argument goes, you can’t attract the really talented people. Well, somehow, $100,000 (plus a car and health benefits) was enough to attract the mayor last year when he was running for office, but this year it’s about $10,000 short of what he thinks he deserves. What happens if he doesn’t get the raise? Is he going to quit? Find another mayor job? It’s a silly argument. There are plenty of talented people who would do the job for $100,000. The governor is paid less to run the entire state.

As it turned out, the council sent the mayor a message by cutting the raise in half. Council President Greg O’Conner suggested 5 percent for the mayor, 7.5 percent for the clerk treasurer, and cut the council’s raise completely. O’Conner hit the target when he said the council doesn’t do this for the money and didn’t require a raise. Now there’s some leadership in tough times.

The mayor bristled at the implication that he does do it for the money. He was right when he said it isn’t about the money because it truly isn’t. It’s about character. It’s about principle. And expecting that kind of increase in times like this gives more insight into the man’s principles than anything else he’s done in the past year.

Mike Corbett

46060


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