There’s an interesting ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER story about a San Juan city manager who draws two salaries. Of course, the reader indignation abounds, and not without good reason.
But there’s an intriguing, positive aspect of the story that has been largely ignored.
The city manager is doing his job WITHOUT A PENSION or other benefits. He’s on contract — his salary is his TOTAL compensation.
This fact is important for 3 reasons:
1. The obvious point is that he is working for a lot less compensation than his peers, and this should be taken into account.
2. The NOT so obvious point is that cities can get good managers without paying massive benefits. Most cities are giving away luxurious benefits for no purpose.
3. Perhaps the most important point is that this city manager has no vested interest in the public employee pension and health care benefit programs. Unlike most city managers, he can be a true, independent administrator and adviser on these crucial issues.
This last point cannot be overemphasized — city managers should be hired on CONTRACT — not hired as an employee.
For that matter, city politicians should also not have any benefits provided — even if it means we have to pay them a bit higher salary (THAT was hard for me to write!).
Cities and counties up and down California are in deep financial trouble in
large part because everyone in the decision making process PROFITS from the opulent benefits and Cadillac health plans bestowed on public employees. No one independently
represents the “shareholders” — the citizens and taxpayers.