North Canton’s Part-time Elected Officials More Interested in Self Service than in Public Service

Prepared Comments Made to

NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL

March 13, 2017 

          On tonight’s agenda for it 3^rd 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