Since 1995, members of Massillon City Council, the mayor, council president, law director, auditor, and treasurer get a pay raise every year.
An automatic, unvoted pay raise, every year, for life.
The city is broke, they get a pay raise.
They do a bad job, they get a pay raise.
They don't come to meetings, they get a pay raise.
An ordinance was passed in late 1995 granting these elected officials a yearly, unvoted pay raise.
This legislation was conceived by, and approved by none other than our former mayor for life, the extraordinary one, Frank Cicchinelli.
So year in, and year out, these elected officials get a pay raise.
Several times, a member of city council sees through this farce, and tries to stop it.
But 'the powers that be' put a stop to their efforts.
When now mayor, and then council member Kathy Catazaro-Perry, tried to overturn the pay raise for life ordinance, Council President Glenn Gamber wouldn't even permit a vote on the matter.
He asked for an informal, off the record show of hands so that those members of city council who wanted to keep their unvoted pay raises for life could do so, without a record of their vote being kept.
Earlier this year, back in January, 5th Ward Republican, Donnie Peters, was ready to end the practice of unvoted pay raises for life for city council.
“I’m going to try to repeal it (the pay raise ordinance),” said Peters, the ranking Republican and Council president pro tem. “Everyone says it doesn’t make it (pay-raise issue) political. Well, make it political” (The Independent, January 27, 2012).
That was 45 days ago.
Last Monday, Massillon City Council unanimously cut the benefits for the city's non-unionized employees. They then froze the salary schedule. For the workers.
While the worker bees are receiving cuts and pay freezes, city council members took a 3.5% pay raise.
As they discuss cuts and layoffs for the workers, they took a raise.
We realize it isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, in the vat of red ink that our former mayor left for city government to drown in.
But it is symbolic.
Leadership means setting an example, and leading the way.
Leadership doesn't mean taking raises while cutting the wages and benefits of others.
Sacrifice should be shared.
It isn't.
And probably won't be.
Peters proposal hasn't seen the light of day.
And we doubt it will.
Perhaps the council president threatened to park next to Peters in the city hall parking lot if Peters kept pushing the issue.
We do imagine that some behind the scenes pressure was applied.
It has been 45 days since the proposal to repeal the annual, unvoted pay raises for life ordinance was brought forward by Donnie Peters.
And what has city council done?
Nothing.
Not a peep.
Not a word.
Not a sound.
Nothing.
While cutting the benefits for the employees, the bosses want to make sure they continue to get their raises.
Every year.
For Life.
