Compromise and commitment

I don’t think any of the Princeton Town Board members, nor town employees, came away with the budget they wanted when they went into the budget meeting Monday night. I hope they will live with commitment to what they came away with.
Too often on town budgets, town employees come out the loser. While I know employees were certainly disappointed, I don’t believe that town board members were insensitive to their needs. I hope town employees will recognize that.
There was a philosophical debate, voiced primarily by Commissioner Walter Martin and Mayor Don Rains, over continuing to build funding for improvements around town as opposed to trying to provide relief for water and sewer rates respectively. The rest of the board ultimately agreed with Mayor Rains. While I can argue both sides of this issue, I believe the town will ultimately benefit from the decision to cut rates.
In arguing his case, the mayor said the town was going through a transition period when annexation and growing efficiencies would ease some pressure on the town budget. In some other words, town employees would get more of what they wanted next year. I hope the town board is committed to that.
The bigger debate was over pay, primarily for police officers and secondarily, the rest of the town staff. Mr. Martin could say he again came out the loser as he argued passionately for maintaining merit pay increases in the budget. I would say that the passage of a 4% pay adjustment was a reflection of his arguments for increased pay for the town staff.
In turning down merit increases again this year, there was much discussion on the need to fix the merit pay system. Mr. Martin argued, from my perspective correctly, that deserving employees should not be paid less because of a flawed merit pay system that the town board put in place.
I heard a commitment to fix the system. I know town employees deserve a merit pay system. Again, a 4% pay adjustment is a recognition that town employees deserve more than they are getting now. I hope the town board is committed to following through on fixing the system.
From a longer term perspective, I remember town boards who seemingly every year based pay on what was left over in the budget. If there had to be a tax increase, usually to cover other expenses, the employees might get an increase. Or if things had gone very good budget wise this year, there might be enough money left to give the employees an increase. Too often the board with long faces would lamely offer they would pay an increase if they could, but there just wasn’t any money left. If there was a pay increase, it usually was across-the-board, as the board wasn’t professional enough to evaluate employees and base pay increases on merit.
While I think most would agree there is more work to do to bring pay into line, the Princeton Town Board in recent years has been more professional in their dealing with the pay issue. I trust that will continue.
Perhaps forgotten by some, since it wasn’t part of the late debate, was the transition to a town administrator. This may be the biggest compromise and commitment of them all. It may be the biggest test of commitment for the town board.
With the tendency of us all to micro-manage, to go in and tell people how to do their jobs, this change in town government represents the town board backing off and allowing trained professionals to make the day-to-day decisions for the town. I hope this commitment holds, to endorse the town administrator, and board members reminded themselves of this Monday night, so they are mindful of the importance.
While Marla Ashworth is new to the position and the politics that surround it, and the board may have some problems letting go, I hope with an attitude of cooperation and charity, Mrs. Ashworth and the town board can move forward and make this work.
There is also a commitment to Police Chief Eddie Lewis. The board needs to stand behind his leadership of the police department. Some will always question what the police does, and if there are questions that can’t be answered satisfactorily, then changes need to be made. I don’t think that some appreciate how good a leader he is for the town.
I believe the town board made some difficult decisions and brought some relief for taxpayers and bill payers. While town employees didn’t get all they wanted, and some believe deserved, the budget did make some movement in the right direction.
I hope a spirit of compromise holds to move the town forward. I hope a spirit of commitment holds to make things right.