Girard government officials should go slow on pay hikes

There’s a legal reason why Girard City Council members passed legislation earlier this month granting pay raises for themselves, the mayor and other top executives in City Hall: State statute prohibits in-term pay adjustments for elected officials. Thus, in order for them to get a salary boost in 2012, the legislation had to be adopted this year.

The pay-hike measure received legislative approval Aug. 3, and became law Aug. 19 without Mayor James Melfi’s signature.

But while the raises go into effect Jan. 1, we believe that Melfi and the lawmakers should delay the actual implementation. Why? Because the national economic recession and the state’s fiscal challenges demand caution on the part of the keepers of the public purse.

Regardless of the strength of the arguments presented by the mayor and members of council for the raises, elected officials must lead by example. Girard is only now emerging from 10 years of state-mandated fiscal emergency, and while the projections for the next five years point to stable budgets, it wouldn’t take much for the red ink to seep back into the ledger. With the huge cuts in the Local Government Fund, which is financed by the state, governments at all levels are being forced to come to the terms with new fiscal realities.

Cost-saving measures

Republican Gov. John Kasich and the Republican controlled General Assembly have made it clear that they expect local decision-makers to develop new, cost-saving measures to serve the public, rather than seeking tax increases. The $56 billion biennium budget has millions of dollars earmarked for innovative programs.

The uncertain economic future in Ohio and the nation requires elected officials to tread softly. In Girard, that means Mayor Melfi and city council agreeing to suspend the implementation of the pay-raise legislation for at least the first quarter of 2012.

While it is true that council earlier cut its pay from $4,606 to $3,000, which is the minimum permitted by state law, and that the mayor, safety-service director, law director and auditor have not had raises during the fiscal emergency, the taxpayers of Girard have also been forced to sacrifice because of the economy.

If the nation’s fortunes improve so that the unemployment rate falls and people in the private sector have money to spend, then Mayor Melfi and the other Girard officials can activate the pay-raise legislation. It would provide raises of $1,606 a year for members of council, and 6 percent boosts for the mayor and the other members of the executive branch.