A few weeks ago we published the salaries of city department heads and the increases they were going to receive. We do the same with county and school personnel.
The fact that we publish such information was the topic a conversation one day at coffee. Most at the table found it important while others (just one) really felt it was unnecessary.
The argument against publicizing the salaries was that it’s public information and if someone wants to know what the public employee salaries are they can go look them up.
That is of course true, but it rarely, if ever, has happened.
That is what your local newspaper does for you.
We also publish the salaries of elected officials as well which is possible more important to do so considering the fact that they are the ones that approve those salaries including their own.
There are a number of reasons why the Star Herald publishes and will continue to publish those salaries, but here is just one example that should make it clear to the one naysayer at coffee.
The Rochester City Council members decided late last year to give themselves a raise that would take effect January 2020. It was a move that was certainly not uncommon, however if the Rochester Post-Bulletin wouldn’t have covered the meeting and reported on it, you wonder if anyone would have gone to city hall to check on the salary increases on their own.
For the record, the Rochester City Council voted to increase the mayor’s salary from $37,657 to $78,840, a meager 109 percent increase.
The six Rochester council member salaries were going from $21,712 to $54,560, which is a paltry increase of a 142 percent. The City Council president got a bump as well from $27,743 to $66,656, a 140 percent increase.
After the salaries were published the council reconsidered the increase and backed off the hefty raises at their January meeting.
In the end the mayor’s salary ended up at $65,700. The City Council president will be paid $47,300 and the council members will receive $39,420. That is a reduction in the overall salary increases of $123,245 per year.
This was all the result of the Rochester Post-Bulletin reporting on city council proceedings.
It kind of makes you wonder what life would be like without your local newspaper.