Comments on: Decatur Commission Passes Tax Credit, But Tables Staff Bonus

By: invinciblesummer

invinciblesummer — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 12:24:43 +0000

“Decatur City employees have not received annual pay adjustments/cost of living adjustments in close to three years.”

Me either–at least not in the positive direction. I’ve had my employer contributions to my 401k stopped, variable comp suspended, and taken unpaid furloughs. I made less in 2009 than I did in 2008 and I’ll make less in 2010 than I did in 2009. All so my employer could make a profit for their investors. That’s the corporate reality. I agree that it is important to motivate employees and I don’t in any way fault Peggy Merriss for trying to do that for City employees. But Fred Boykin was right to pause on this issue rather than rubber stamp the proposal.

By: resident

resident — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:18:25 +0000

My understanding from the materials located on the city website under city commission minutes is that much of the surplus for the compensation is from expenditure reductions by staff and additional revenues. I hope as the commissioners continue to think about this issue that they here from residents and feedback from employees, both groups help to make this place a great place to be. The document is located at http://www.decaturga.com/cgs_citygov_commissionmeetings.aspx. Its where I got my information from.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:58:39 +0000

It is Twain, but I’m not sure that’s EXACTLY what he was referring to. I believe he was talking about crafting the perfect sentence, not potentially over-summarizing wonk.

By: Parker Cross

Parker Cross — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:39:22 +0000

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” Not sure, but I think it’s Mark Twain.

By: nelliebelle1197

nelliebelle1197 — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:21:12 +0000

Thank you for your response.

By: Robbie

Robbie — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:05:21 +0000

Agree 100% that the services we receive here in Decatur are top-notch. Just took issue with the comments about Commissioner Boykin, who in this case strikes me as the only council member serving as a responsible steward of our funds.

Regarding the ‘significantly overpaying taxes’ comment (which I’m pretty sure I didn’t say but was inferred nonetheless), if there is a surplus then that’s an indication that we taxpayers did indeed collectively overpay last year. Again, a good problem to have in an economy like this.

Final note: the commission isn’t elected by taxpayers, it’s elected by citizens. That whole “property-owner-right-to-vote” thing is just so 1850.

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:09:32 +0000

On the other hand, Decatur employees DO have a job in an economy in which many many people do not. Go out and try to find a job and see what I mean. It’s quite tough out here. I’m working two low-paying part-time jobs and have just about given up applying for other jobs because nobody will look at me. A steady job for three years, even without a raise, looks darn good to me.

Many other governments are cutting or furloughing employees.

We do have good city services, but we also pay the highest property tax rate in the state (and that’s mostly due to the schools, still, we pay relatively high taxes.)

By: Fred Boykin

Fred Boykin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:18:57 +0000

I appreciate the comments on this issue. Decatur is in good financial condition relative to many cities and counties in Georgia. We may be the only one able to return money to the taxpayers this year and I’m proud of the fact that the City has not had to lay off any employees or call for furloughs this fiscal year. We have a hard working staff and they’ve done a good job. We were conservative in our estimates and we’re blessed with the “problem” of what to do with a million dollars. The Commission voted for part of it to build the reserve fund back up and another part to go back to the taxpayers. The City Manager requested a third part be used as an extra payment to City employees.

The current budget already contains an additional one week payment to City staff; the $200,000.00 requested at Monday’s Commission Meeting would have added a second week so the staff would then receive a full two week pay period payment. (Last fiscal year City staff received the full two week pay period payment). The payment – either way – is usually given out the first pay period in January.

In previous years, I have always voted for pay raises for the staff and cost of living adjustments too. However, times are different right now. Georgia has a very high unemployment rate, governments from the state level on down are freezing salaries, requiring furlough time from their staffs. Private industry is doing the same and a lot of folks are just glad to have a job. I have some reservations this time around and the other Commissioners were willing to table the motion until our first meeting in November.

I appreciate the extra time to hear from residents and neighbors – after all, a lot of this suplus comes from tax dollars and I want to be careful how it’s spent. It is not an easy decision.