Westmoreland County residents are losing faith in their government. A tax increase and the scandal in the register of wills office have rightfully garnered a lot of attention and anger, as have big paydays for elected officials. It’s time to restore the public trust.
When I took office a year ago, I was shocked and dismayed by the new salaries of the county’s elected officials. Over the past three years those wages have increased 17%, making them now 60% more than the county’s median per capita income. The 28-year-old county ordinance that enabled these outrageous raises is outdated and out of touch. It needs to be repealed and replaced, and should include a cap.
Today, the county is bound by a 1996 resolution that increases the salaries of elected officials by an annual cost-of-living adjustment calculated by applying the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Over the past three years, those increases have been 5.6%, 7.8% and 3.5%. This raised the salaries of commissioners more than $14,000 and most row officers $12,500. The register of wills increased $13,400, and the district attorney $33,200. Together the county added more than $178,000 to its payroll — for elected officials alone!
Have county residents seen that in their paychecks?
The cost, and the personal financial benefit, is also exponential. Elected officials enjoy a greater retirement payment for the rest of their lives, which also puts more strain — and more contributions from taxpayers — to the county’s pension fund.
This has to stop.
What I am prosing is maintaining that any salary increase is still tied to the Consumer Price Index, but capping that amount not to exceed 2.5%. Commissioners have the power to make sure that no elected official, present or future, receives such obscene raises ever again. We owe it those who pay our salaries, especially since they are paying more in property taxes.
The big, automatic raises elected officials receive have also hurt the county in our negotiations with our labor unions. Organized labor is well aware of the big raises that have been awarded, and they, rightfully, expect it too. As the Trib pointed out accurately earlier this year during negotiations with SEIU, the current automatic increases seem like a “let them eat cake” moment during contract negotiations, and the union’s decision to seek historic raises was predictable.
This is not to diminish the work my colleagues do or the importance of the offices they hold. Taxpayers just simply can’t afford higher costs. But to the naysayers in your courthouse who have grown comfortable with their big raises and have resisted my prior calls to end it, I would remind them that a 2.5% cap still respects inflation. Many of our constituents are on fixed incomes (we especially owe this change to them). Also, anyone who runs for elected office for the pay is doing it for the wrong reason.
What I am proposing is not a campaign gimmick, like Commissioner Doug Chew’s failed promise to donate 60% of his salary. Rather, my proposal creates meaningful and lasting policy that protects taxpayers and restores the sacred trust we have with our constituents.
With inflation still problematic, I warn that taxpayers can expect more big raises next year if we don’t act.
The time is now. State law mandates that any change to county elected officials’ wages take place during an evening public meeting. Our next Commissioners’ Public Meeting is scheduled for Aug. 29 at Cedar Creek Park in Rostraver. The advertising of the resolution to enact the change must be done 10 days prior.
We can no longer do business as usual in Westmoreland County government. We have to be leaner, smarter and more mindful of the needs of those we are sworn to serve. Change starts with us.
Ted Kopas is a Westmoreland County commissioner.