Does Minnesota Suburban Government Understand America?

Reporter Paul Levy wrote an important story that should have made the front page of the Star Tribune but got buried in yesterday’s election coverage. In "Minnesota Suburbs Feel Pressure of Salary Cap," Levy leads with Blaine Mayor Tom Ryan complaining
that the city is having a tough time hiring a new city manager because
of the state-imposed salary cap. That cap, probably the only one like it
in the nation, ties salaries paid by local units of government to 110
percent of the $120,303 the governor earns per year, which works out to
be $139,817.

"We’re low," … Ryan said recently. "We’re
never going to catch up with cities like St. Louis — and that’s who we
bid against for a manager." Rather than piling on Ryan (whom I’ve
never met), let’s assume this is the collective mindset of the Blaine
city officials doing the hiring. What world are these people living
in? Never mind that the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 numbers show Blaine
with 44,942 people and, St. Louis, 348,189.

The
real disconnect is what America is earning a year, compared to
Minnesota suburban city managers. The Federal Reserve Board
recalculates U.S. household income every three years. An article posted on Yahoo Finance notes that:

"If you and yours are bringing in $40,000 a year, you’re doing better than half
the households in America. Or, as a Washington think tank recently pointed out: If you’re a teacher
married to a policeman, your combined household income puts you in the top 25
percent of all households in the nation."

And
if you’re a Minnesota suburban city manager making $139,817, and your
spouse is making at least $30,183 a year for a combined income of
$170,000, congratulations, you’re in the top ten percent of all the
households in America.

If there is one thing I have learned
in almost 20 years of working around government, sometimes having
represented various units of local government, and having many friends
who work for local units of government, it is this: As a general rule,
those who have the top-paying jobs in local units of government (and
there are many) have completely lost all perspective when it comes to
their salaries vis-

No Responses to “Does Minnesota Suburban Government Understand America?”

1. C Mattson Says:
   November 15th, 2007 at 2:03 pm

   Why the outrage on the pay of a public official? I don’t see similar carping about executive compensation in the private sector. Instead we generally hear the opposite from the Republican viewpoint: they earn what the market will bear. And here’s where you *completely* lose me: talking about how those at the top of the government pay-scale have “completely lost all perspective when it comes to their salaries vis-