So let me get this right. Our economy has taken a nose dive and the quality of services provided by the county continues to decline, yet County Executive Scott Walker wants to give his chief of staff a 26% pay raise:
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants a 26% pay raise for his chief of staff, former Ald. Tom Nardelli, while bypassing traditional County Board approval in quietly issuing large pay raises over the summer to several other top aides.
Nardelli would get the biggest pay increase of top-tier county officials, a nearly $20,000 raise to $95,000 a year. Seven county administrators also scored increases of up to 12.5%.
What I’d love to know is what Tom Nardelli’s done to deserve a 26% pay raise. After all, unless I’m mistaken, most rank and file county workers get a one or two percent raise every year, so what’s Tom Nardelli done to deserve a whopping 26% boost in his salary?
Capper and James Rowen have more.
Zach, you work for the state government so you get automatic raises! What about those in the private sector that have pay freezes?
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker explains staff raises
“Each of the cabinet members who are appointed for a new term must be confirmed by the County Board and then a letter of employment is presented to them (like a new employee). The top staff at the county had not received a pay adjustment in the past six years (even as many took on additional responsibilities). Most are still considerably less than similar positions in other parts of the county. Most of these pay adjustments went into effect earlier this summer. What got some members of the County Board all worked up is that the Personnel Committee received a request to move the top of the range for the Chief of Staff to the County Executive up from $75,000 a year to $95,000 a year. They went wild. Never mind that the Chief of Staff for the County Board is going up to nearly $110,000 next week. Never mind that Ament’s Chief of Staff made nearly $115,000. Never mind that the Chief of Staff to Mayor Barrett has a range that starts at $95,000. These same members of the County Board do not object to their own Chief of Staff making considerably more. Why does the County Executive’s Chief of Staff make less? Just before I arrived in 2002, the members of the County Board voted to cut some $250,000 from the budget of the County Executive so we dramatically cut all of the salaries to have enough money to hire staff. Now that we have them, we want to keep them to help us run this $1.3 Billion operation. Finally, the newspaper did not report on the cabinet when they got their wage adjustment in the middle of the summer. The newspaper did not report on the Chief of Staff when his issue came up last week. So why did they wait until today? Could it be because my budget (the 7th straight without a tax levy increase from the previous year) comes out tomorrow? Over the past few days, we gave the newspaper early information about big things in our budget – like the expansion of FamilyCare to people with developmental and physical disabilities or the option to bid out operations of the airport. Each of these stories was a small mention in their news digest section while this “old news” got a headline on the front page. Do you think they have an agenda?”
Steve, you mastery of cut and paste amazes me!
Let’s talk when you’ve got a thought of our own….not something you regurgitated from somewhere else.
Oh, and as for those folks in the private sector who have pay freezes, I’ll just say that’s the chance you take working in the private sector.
Hey Steve…the MJS is reporting Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has ordered a series of belt-tightening moves to offset a projected year-end deficit of nearly $6 million. The moves include a partial hiring freeze and layoffs of temporary workers.
Don’t you think, in light of the county’s budget woes, that it’s an inopportune time to give someone a 26% percent raise? If the county needs to tighten its belt, that tightening shouldn’t just affect the rank and file; the folks responsible for this mess – like Scott Walker and his staff – should have to tighten their belts as well.
More coming on that. Walker rewarded incompetence, but that is OK, because they were cronies that ran up a deficit much bigger than the $6 million Walker is admitting to.