Prepared Comments Made to
NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL
March 13, 2017
On
tonight’s agenda for it 3rd reading is Ordinance No. 6-2017. This
legislation provides for automatic pay raises for North Canton’s part-time
elected officials as OPERS increases the minimum annual salary required to
qualify for 100 percent service credit for pension benefits.
City
Council will no longer come under scrutiny when their salaries are increased.
The citizens of North Canton will no longer be able question the compensation
City Council receives as both citizens and Council will be removed from the
process.
Ohio,
as well as states across the country, needs to eliminate pension eligibility for
part-time public employees as pension funds are grossly underfunded.
The
state of Ohio has chosen to eliminate pension eligibility for part-time public
officials by raising the minimum salary needed for full service credit, thereby
elevating salaries over and above what will be warranted at some point in the
future.
This
minimum salary will be further increased over the next few years. The need to
increase the monthly salaries of North Canton’s part-time elected officials by
$60 is a drop in the bucket as to what will be required in the not too distant
future to maintain eligibility for full service credit under OPERS.
As this
minimum salary is increased further and further, most part-time elected
officials will ultimately no longer participate in Ohio’s pension program.
Several
years ago, I recall seeing reports in the press that the General Assembly
initially discussed raising the minimum monthly salary to as high as $2,000 per
month.
This is
where this is headed and this Council agenda with this legislation. With the
passage of this legislation, North Canton City Council believes they will not
have to take responsibility for setting their salary when OPERS increases the
minimum salary to salaries far above what is acceptable to the taxpayers of
North Canton.
Possibly
this Council is unaware that OPERS does give partial credit for salaries that
do not meet the minimum salary for full service credit?
This
legislation makes one big assumption and that is that North Canton part-time
elected officials assume that they will remain in office the minimum required
ten years to qualify for a pension.
This is a
pretty arrogant assumption on the part of North Canton’s part-time elected
officials.
I believe
that this legislation violates Section 4.04 of the City’s Charter which states,
“The
Council shall have the power to fix the compensation of its members, and that
of the Mayor….”
It does not
say the “General Assembly” or “OPERS.”
Frankly, I
am stunned that Council has the audacity to even propose a raise for
itself and the Mayor.
First,
Council and the Held Administration failed to place a renewal levy on the
ballot in a timely fashion and now that failure is going to cost taxpayers
close to $15,000 for a Special Election in August.
Second,
Council is in violation of its own ordinance requiring four meetings of Council
four Mondays each month.
I have a
spreadsheet detailing the meeting nights of City Council over the last fourteen
years. Under the current Law Director and untrained Council Clerk, the lawfully
required Council meetings schedule of four Monday night meetings per month is in
decline.
The
required four Monday night meetings per month have declined nearly twenty-five
percent over the last fourteen years. That downward trend has just come about
in the last couple of years.
North
Canton no longer has a major employer across the street. The City is struggling
financially.
Scrap
Ordinance No. 6-2017.
Represent
your constituents.
Show the
citizens of North Canton that you are indeed interested in Public Service.
Thank you,
Chuck Osborne