Hey guys:          

I just wanted to make sure you saw the story amid the holiday hustle -- that the Children Services Board is rescinding its wage increase.

Click here in case you missed it.

This appears to me to be more conscionable than to, say, quietly slip in about 20 pay raises this summer, then appear at a 2011 budget meeting and discussing a 60 percent funding increase with much of it earmarked for prosecution staff raises.

Paul, I know you told me the prosecutor raises were “steps” or “ladders” or “scales” or something governmentese — a thinking and a process that most private industry workers don’t enjoy when the economy is in the tank.

It is in the tank, by the way. It's been in all the papers.

As I’ve written previously, it’s not solely about the cost — although that is a concern, especially when some of the summer pay bumps exceeded 6 percent.

But it’s mainly the posturing, the principal and the politicking. It simply smells.

Given the multitude of complex county contracts, I imagine there were many county workers who profited from this.

To make it even scrutiny for all — here’s what I plan to do in 2011:

I am filing FOIA paperwork with the county auditor’s office. Every month, I plan to get a printout of the Mahoning County PAR reports. “PARs” are the forms that initiate any pay change plans.

Each month, on this blog, I will list the pay raises that went through that seem questionable.

In this economy, sure, all pay raises can be deemed questionable. But there are county workers who clear probation status or are legitimately promoted or have their duties change significantly. Pay changes in those situations are to be expected. But not all situations fit that, I believe. The public can help be the judge.

You have a tough job. I don’t aim to make it tougher — just a little more transparent.

Todd