I'm not opposed to making salary adjustments, but I question the benchmarks used to calculate what is typical for a town our size. <br><br>The town should not use population as its filter for collecting salary benchmarks from other towns. Annual budget is a better way to compare the scope and responsibilities that our town staff and elected officials are responsible for. That is what most agencies use to figure out comps.
<br><br>Ocean City's mayor and council preside over a $65 million annual budget which funds a $25 million police force, $17 million public works program, $4 million tourism office, etc. with a summer population of 250,000. Including OC in the average benchmarks for salaries bumps the average up quite a bit.
<br><br>If you used the median, instead of the average, then the benchmarks change to more like $500 mayor and $400 council. <br><br>As a side note, Ocean City's compensation for officials, relative to its annual budget, is even tinier than ours. Looks like salary is not the main thing that attracts leadership in that town either.
<br><br>Thanks for the opportunity to comment. <br><br>- Alice Ewen Walker<br> <br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 12/2/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Rob Oppenheim</b> <<a href="mailto:oppenheim@email.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
oppenheim@email.com </a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-left: 0.80ex; border-left-color: #cccccc; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex">
<div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> This Monday evening (12/4/06) the council will vote to change its salary </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> to $300/month ($600 for mayor).</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3">
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Salaries for towns about our size in Maryland average much more - </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> $600/month for council members and $1000 for mayor. </font>
</div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> ( <a href="http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/2006-September/000901.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/2006-September/000901.html
</a> )</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Is that too much for Riverdale Park? </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> About 30 towns also pay insurance benefits to council members in
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> addition to a salary. We do not.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> We need a visionary council. We need to attract and keep good people
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> on the council in order to create a better town. </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> I spend 60 hours a month on council work. To do so, I cut back on
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> paid work, which is forcing me to dip into savings. Ouch. Can't keep </font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> doing that, so I am cutting back on the time spent, yet it pains me to
</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> put off addressing so many pressing problems.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> </font></div><div><b><font face="Arial" size="3"> Do you think that our council should be paid the same as other
</font></b></div><div><b><font face="Arial" size="3"> towns our size, that is, $600/month? </font></b></div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Too much?</font></div><div> </div><div><font face="Arial" size="3"> Please let us hear from you.
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