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February 8, 2010 in City
Council OKs more pay for assistants
Spokane City Council members secretaries will make more money, getting an additional eight hours a week under a budget plan approved unanimously Monday evening.
The council began hiring personal assistants in 2008. Monday’s vote will increase their hours from 20 to 28 hours a week.
The extra work will cost about $50,000 in pay and pension benefits, which will be covered by cutting the pay of the council’s unfilled auditor job and of the council’s two full-time employees.
Officials stressed that the addition of hours will not increase red ink. While the 2010 budget is balanced, city leaders estimate a $10 million hole in 2011.
Councilman Richard Rush noted that the city’s Salary Review Commission recommended in 2008 that an additional full-time employee should be hired to help the council research proposals under consideration. Rush said adding additional hours is a cheaper alternative to the commission’s proposal.
City Councilman Steve Corker said demands on the council have grown tremendously in recent years. Members are expected to attend neighborhood council meetings and serve on more boards and commissions. The proposal, he said, was the result of the council answering the question: “How can we make ourselves more efficient?”
Most on the council say the assistants help them research proposals and be more responsive to citizen inquiries. That, they say, results in better policy.
Former council member Mike Allen, who lost his seat in the November election, said raising staff hours probably wouldn’t make a “material difference” in the council’s work.
“I thought the assistants were largely underutilized,” Allen said in an interview last week.
Having personal assistants isn’t unprecedented. Each of the three Spokane County commissioners has an assistant. Commissioners note that they essentially act as the council and mayor of the county.
In Seattle, city councilors have multiple personal assistants. But in Tacoma, the nine-member city council shares two full-time assistants, said Tacoma City Councilman Joe Lonergan. The Tacoma body also has three college students who serve fellowships in the council office.
Monday’s vote reduced the pay and benefits of the internal auditor by about $40,000 to $100,000 a year.
Councilwoman Amber Waldref stressed that the council remains committed to maintaining an auditor who will assist the council on budget issues.
“We just thought we could reasonably fill that position with a smaller salary,” she said.
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Ron_the_Cop on February 08 at 10:18 p.m.
Mr. Brunt,
They’re pulling an Obama. They jacked the pay for the Auditor they knew was going to leave in this budget cycle. Now they’re going to cut back the salary. This is smoke and mirrors. What they really do need to do is hire a quality independent auditor.
I posted this in the other thread:
Buried in this article is the fact our City fathers/mothers have elected to leave the City Auditor’s position open and now are reducing the salary of this position to pay for their additional Council staff. Yeah they’re really overworked attending all their glad handing meetings/events.
This is economic crimes 101 and a discussion I had with many victim/business owners when they discovered their accountant or other “trusted” employee was caught in the till. I wasn’t very sympathetic in recovering their “pound of flesh” once the horses were let out of the barn by their own doing. You divide this responsibility so you have procedural cross checks. Granted two or three employees could get together and siphon money off but this wasn’t a likely event.
My gosh without the City auditor, Gavin Cooley’s left guarding the hen house. BTW the Auditor by City code is required to be a CPA. The CFO has no such requirement. Being the cynical person I tend to be, I would be willing to bet our eggs are being sucked as we speak.
And didn’t one of our former City auditors who just moved into town and bought a house suddenly leave over night? Gee I wonder what he stuck his nose into?
Truthhurts on February 09 at 12:20 a.m.
Mayor Verner looked me right in the eye when I was choosing to support her for mayor and told me she would fire Gavin Cooley.
Instead, she fell under his control, and the City Council removed the only “check and balance” on Cooley by removing the City Auditor.
Additionally, Ron-the-Cop is correct. Ms. Fuller was never paid above the mid-90’s, and then the Spokesman runs, without fact-checking, the idea that the City Auditor was costing the City 143,000 a year.
The main point Ron-the-Cop is right about, however, is that a very small cabal with Cooley at the center runs the City, while the Council runs in irrelevant circles, without accurate information.
Ron_the_Cop on February 10 at 8:16 p.m.
Readers may wish to read the comments under the other thread in a later version of this article:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/feb/09/city-adds-hours-for-assistants/?comments#c116747
Ron_the_Cop on February 13 at 12:33 p.m.
Folks also might want to read the comment thread on the Mayor’s State of the City address:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/feb/12/verner-says-plans-place-deal-2011-deficit/