WPB Elected Officials Want Massive Pay Raise.
Posted by Sandy on May 19, 2024 · Leave a Comment
City Commission Meeting held 5/13/2024 was attended by Wayne Washington, reporter for the PB Post who wrote an excellent story on an item on the agenda, pay raises for the mayor and 5 City Commissioners. Below are excerpts from the story and below the link. My comments in italic.
“West Palm Beach commissioners, mayor in line for massive pay raises”
“West Palm Beach City Commission members are expected to decide this month whether to sharply increase their pay and that of the mayor.
On Monday night, commissioners gave preliminary approval to a recommendation from the city staff that their pay be increased by just under 32% to $46,112 per year from their current pay of $35,000. The mayor’s annual pay would also rise by about 32%, to $197,625 from its current $150,000.”
“The city’s elected officials now face the prospect of raising their own pay at a time when housing costs and inflation are biting household budgets.”
More families are living on the street due to high cost of rent and it’s not getting better. If fact WPB Mayor James and Fl. Gov DeSantis are passing laws on ways to criminalize and punish the homeless.
“With James term-limited, some commissioners are contemplating a run to succeed him, and that could factor into how they vote when the topic comes up for final consideration May 28. The raises would go into effect on the next pay period after final approval.”
“Obviously, this is not a comfortable conversation for any of us on the dais to talk about increasing the salary of those of us who sit here, though I don’t think it’s inappropriate,” James said. “We have looked after our residents. We have looked out for our employees.”
It is absolutely inappropriate to consider giving yourself pay raises while claiming you look after residents and city employees. Elected officials do neither. You do take excellent care of each other.
“How does West Palm Beach commission pay rank with comparable cities?”
“City Administrator Faye Johnson made an extensive presentation on the finances of the proposed pay increases. The goal, she said, is to put elected official pay in West Palm Beach back on par with the compensation of counterparts in Orlando, St. Petersburg and Jacksonville.
We are significantly lagging in terms of meeting the goal to stay on par with those municipalities,” she said.
Time to Google the three cities for info. Now ask yourself if she lied by omission. I vote yes.
Orlando Population 316,081 (2022)
St. Petersburg Population 261,256 (2022)
Jacksonville Population 971,319 (2022)
WPB Population 120,932 (2022)
Commissioners and Mayor pay raises
$46,112 x 5 = $230,560
Mayor $197,625
——————————-
$428,185/year
President of the US annual salary $400,000.00/year
“Commissioners’ jobs are, technically, part-time. In reality, the jobs are time-consuming and can be mentally draining. Preparation and review for meetings take hours, as do the meetings themselves. And then there are the public gatherings where their attendance is expected.” Are you aware City Commissioners, City Administrator, Faye Johnson each receive $500/month for a gas allowance on top of their salary.
$500/month = $6,000 yr. x 6 people= $36,000. Does anyone believe they use $500 a month for traveling to public gatherings? I don’t!
James does not receive a gas allowance. He chooses a brand-new SUV we paid for along with his auto insurance, not to mention we pay for his driver/bodyguard, a job he created soon after being sworn in. When James travels he brings him along, so taxpayers pick up the mayor’s and bodyguard expenses. Last time I checked he was earning over $100K
“We all up here on this dais work very hard,” James said. “There are people who would say, if we gave ourselves a dollar raise, we don’t deserve it. I believe that we deserve at least to be shielded from the impact of inflation over the last eight years.”
James the public has been living with the impact of inflation also, and still living with it. City employees are also still living with it. You work damn hard for the residents of the Bristol, where millionaires and billionaires reside, you all work extremely hard for the developers, and movers and shakers, you do nothing for the residents. People living in their car with their kids because they couldn’t pay rent to greedy landlords. James has treated the homeless with a feeling of strong dislike or disapproval of someone he think does not deserve respect. His contempt for them is obvious. The silence of the city commissioners on the homeless problem is deafening. It’s obvious to me they are in lockstep with James. The rainy season is about to begin and it brings strong thunderstorms and lightning. James has had “No Trespassing” signs placed in all city garages. No rest for the weary.
Where would the money for pay raises come from?
“Johnson emphasized that money for the pay raises would not be pulled from property tax revenue. Instead, she said, it would come from $719,500 in additional shared state revenue the city learned it would receive near the end of last year’s budget process.”
So, after this year the raises would come from our tax dollars. Guess you’ll have to raise the property taxes to meet your salary increases.
“The Palm Beach Post received a tip during budget discussions last year that the city was contemplating pay increases for elected officials and asked in an Aug. 31 email to Diane Papadakos, the city’s director of communications, if “the proposed budget includes increases are for the commission and the mayor?”
Papadakos’ responded, “I believe that the current budget only includes salary increases for staff, not elected officials.”
Good planning, give the employees a small raise, so next year we can say we took care of them and it’s fair to ask for an astronomical raise for ourselves.
“Johnson said she should have been reviewing the pay of elected officials each year, as the charter directs.”
Ms. Johnson, why don’t you mention the Charter also reads the City Administrator, (you) MUST reside within city limits. You have always resided in unincorporated Palm Beach County where you receive protection from PBC Sheriff and PBC Fire. I don’t believe you had an issue with the city’s contaminated water supply as you use PBC water. Two Commissioners Warren and Fox were quoted by the post.
“Commissioner Christy Fox lamented the prospect of having to vote for a large pay increase instead of having received the far more modest cost-of-living increases given to staff over the last eight years.
Fox said she will look to hear from constituents now that the pay package has gotten preliminary approval.”
Commissioner Fox, thank you for your commonsense response. Commissioner Warren I had high hopes for you. We received pennies in tax cuts, and our employees received a cost-of-living raise. Are you aware the day James was sworn in over 200 employees resigned and the remaining employees were made to pick up the slack without a pay raise. Everyone suffered except Johnson whose paycheck doubled and she earns more than Ms. Baker, the County Administrator who has been employed by the county for more than 30 years.
Obviously, no response from Lambert, Ward or Peduzzi. Read the PB Post story below.
“That drew a response from James, who said he hoped she wouldn’t conduct a poll on the topic.”
“Some decisions just have to be made on data and not on public opinion,” he said”
James, what happened to “We want to hear from you?” You want commissioners to vote on skewed data from your City Administrator? City Commissioners want to run for the mayor’s office, Please God, not again.
The end