I feel compelled to write after reading the Butler Eagle’s Jan. 27 editorial criticizing the Butler County commissioners’ effort to have a “salary study” that would cover all nonunion county employees. The Eagle took a stand that this study would be nothing but a waste of taxpayers’ money. The Eagle was absolutely standing up for county taxpayers, and the newspaper’s reasoning is commendable. I also read the Jan. 29 letter to the editor from Itzi Meztli, which provided valuable, documented comparisons of the grossly overpaid salaries of our three “part-time” county commissioners compared with what commissioners in other Pennsylvania counties of similar population are paid. The new Butler County Board of Commissioners now appears to be totally out of touch. Please note that this taxpayer-funded “study” will have come after the three commissioners, effective Jan. 1, began receiving pay approximately 9 percent greater than what commissioners received in 2011. The part-time chairman now gets $85,000 annually. The higher commissioners pay follows a whopping 23 percent raise given by the former board of commissioners to the county’s full-time personnel director. Why was this one person singled out? It is clear that the board of commissioners has lost contact with the realities of today’s economy. Did county taxpayers get 9 percent to 23 percent pay hikes from their own, respective employers this year? As a Butler County resident, I want to thank Meztli for the time and effort he devoted to bringing important and eye-opening information to local taxpayers. Meztli provided a no-cost salary study. Couldn’t the commissioners take on the same task themselves with a salariy study of the county’s upper management? County taxpayers and also county employees are eagerly waiting to hear the real reasons behind the outrageous and unwarranted increases. I hear two other courthouse managers have officially asked for a similar 23 percent windfall, with more managers getting ready to step forward with similar demands or complaints. Can anyone blame them? Do we really want these commissioners to have a “salary study” conducted, as they voted unanimously to do? Again, as the Eagle pointed out, it would be a big waste of taxpayers’ money. Did the commissioners just strike gold in the courthouse, considering their own salaries and the personnel director’s, or are they just opening a huge salary rebellion at the county offices? Leadership and organizational skills appear to be more than lacking.
