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.
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