Willis et al try to hit Franklin administration in its paycheck
February 14, 2008 at 9:23 am by Scott Henry in NewsOn Wednesday the Atlanta City Council Finance Committee briefly discussed a proposal by Councilman Lamar Willis that … well, let’s just say it ain’t gonna make Shirley very happy.
Like most council members, Willis is fuming over the mayor’s recent announcement that the city is facing a $70 million budget shortfall because of unanticipated expenses and accounting mistakes. Therefore, Willis wants to rescind a number of pay-grade increases for city executives approved in November.
The increases boosted the salary ranges for top management positions, from chief of staff (max earnings rose from $208K to $237K) to chief financial officer (from $216K to $271K) to the budget chief (from $132K to $170K).
Councilman Howard Shook, who chairs Finance, says the increases were enacted last fall to make the city more competitive in attracting top-flight management talent. Besides, he says, since the pay-grade adjustments didn’t translate into immediate raises for the affected employees, the total cost of the measure has been estimated at about $10,000 so far.
“This is not how you overcome a $70 million deficit,” Shook says.
Perhaps, says Willis, but “it sends a message to the executives who possibly put us in this situation.”
The proposal has support from fellow council members Natalyn Archibong, C.T. Martin, Felicia Moore and Ivory Young. Still, Willis agreed to hold it until the next meeting to allow time to see what the actual cost of the pay-grade increases has been.
Who will figure up that figure? The city finance department, of course.
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February 14th, 2008 at 10:09 am
i am honestly not sure that someone who just had a 50k+lien applied by the irs for gross financial mismanagement of a foundation should be lecturing ANYBODY on topics such as these….
February 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Interestingly, when I spoke to Willis face-to-face yesterday afternoon, he seemed quite relaxed and in good spirits. Then I picked up today’s AJC and realized that he’d been told that morning that the IRS was going after him. I think I’d have been a tad more grumpy if I’d just been been hit with a huge lien.