NEEDY OR GREEDY – YOU BE THE JUDGE

Back in early 2015, our Town Council terminated the contract on the previous Town Manager and rightfully so.  However, that left a critical vacancy and needed to be filled quickly.  In the Town Council’s hurry to fill this critical position; the Town Council allowed Diane Barnes to include paragraph 5F under Section 5 Salary and Fringe Benefits which states and I quote “The Manager shall also receive any benefits as the Town provides to its other employees.”

 

This minor item has raised Mrs. Barnes’s starting salary of $87,000.00 per year to last year’s salary of $95,047.00 in just 3 years.  So how is this possible?  It is possible because Mrs. Barnes is misusing the Federal government Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA) program to fill her pockets.  Below is the purpose, the program was intended to be utilized for:  

PURPOSE AS DEFINED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:

A cost-of-living adjustment is made to social security and supplemental security income to counteract the effects of inflation. Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are typically equal to the percentage increase in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) for a specific period.

 

However, in Lisbon it has taken on an entirely new meaning.  There is no inflation in the current economy and the town is not using the consumer index to determine any COLA adjustments needed.  The Town Manager, Diane Barnes includes a 2% COLA allowance every year in her proposed budget and our Town Council approves it every year.  This means that every year, Mrs. Barnes receives a $1,900 PLUS salary increase every year.  Have any of you every received such a salary increase?

 

Lisbon is a small community with a tax base made up of mostly residents.  This means that our taxes are always going to go up every year to offset this COLA give away.  I always believed this allowance with to be given to the “Blue Collar” workers instead of those in management positions.  So let’s look to the impact of a Blue Collar employee making $40,000.00 per year.  2% increase is $800.00 which is still a good pay increase every year but not as substantial as $1,900.00 received by the Town Manager.   I believe,Mrs. Barnes is trying to make people believe that she is looking out for the rank-in-file when she is actually lining her pockets with our tax dollars.  It takes a very special type of person, in my opinion, to make money off the backs of her employees.

 

So how do we correct this injustice to the people?  It comes in two parts”

 

A.     The Town Council must immediately re-negotiate the Town Managers’ contract and eliminate paragraph 5F of Section 5 Salaries and Fringe Benefits.  This will eliminate these massive salary increases to the Town Manager.  Mrs. Barnes should be able to live comfortable on $95,000.00 yearly in Lisbon.

B.     The Town Council must restrict any salary increase to ONLY those in Blue Collar positions.  Those individuals in management positions make enough money off the taxpayers.  Let’s look at the three recent hires”
 

1.      Sewer Director was hired for approximately $80,000.00 per year.  If you filter in the COLA this salary increases roughly $1,600.00 per year.

2.     This is the same with the new Public Works Director hired for $80,000.00 per year.  The COLA is the same.

3.     Now, let’s look at the new Fire Chief who was hired for $70,000 per year.  The COLA on this is roughly $1,400.00 per year.  Also, the previous Fire Chief received $69,284.80, according to the 2016-2017 Annual Report.  This was after several years on the job, so what was his starting salary?

 

The people in this town need to get a handle on the mismanagement of our tax dollars before it is too later.  Start calling the Town Council, and tell them to stop spending and start looking for ways to save residents tax dollars.

 

Larry Fillmore

 

NOTE:  I believe that every employee of the Town of Lisbon should continue to receive “longevity compensation”.  As of July 1 of each year and commencing with five years of continuous employment with the town, all permanent employees shall be credited with longevity compensation at the rate of $5.00 per month up to and including a maximum of 180 months.