Cook: “I had to vote for the salary increase”
Posted By J.T. on May 29, 2009
South County Commissioner Bill Cook (R) ran on a platform of “sound and responsible” government. At a candidate forum in Freeman last fall Mr. Cook made a promise that he would not accept any pay increase as a commissioner. On January 8 of this year the Commission unanimously approved a salary structure that included a 3% pay raise.
When asked about why he voted for the budget Cook said:
Yes I did vote for the budget and the salary increases were in that budget. I tried not to take the increase but there is a lot more to it than that. I can tell you what I am doing to offset the increase I saved. I take home about $39,900 after things have been taken out, with the 3% increase that is about $1,200. I am taking that out of my expense that I could be reimbursed for.
Here is historical information regarding salaries of elected officials in Cass County: (In 1999 county elected officials salaries were adjusted as a result of State Statute affecting 1st Class Counties which included Cass County.)
- 2000———4.00% COLA
- 2001———0.00%
- 2002———0.00%
- 2003———0.00%
- 2004———0.00%
- 2005———0.63 %
- 2006———6.56%
- 2007———3.30% COLA
- 2008———3.00% COLA
- 2009———3.00% COLA
Presiding County Commissioner Gary L. Mallory (D) said:
Elected Officials’ salaries are determined by the Salary Commission (comprised of elected officials) per State Statute. The Salary Commission meets in the odd numbered years to establish the base line salary for elected officials for the upcoming election cycle. The last time the base salary was changed except for COLA’s was in 2005 for the election year 2006. The State Statute allows the elected officials to receive a COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) as long as it does not exceed the COLA awarded to regular county employees.
The budget includes the salaries of everyone, elected and otherwise. We accept the budget in its entirety and do not have the authority to exclude an item by “line item veto”.
While it may seem reasonable to vote for the budget and then offset the increase by taking it out of the expense account, the budget still included a 3% increase for all county employees. In these economic times giving an additional 3% to county employees may not constitute “sound and responsible” government.
Wow! What leadership. He had no choice but to vote himself a raise? I would say that most of the County Employees deserve every dime they get. But they did not make promises to get elected. And as far as the Salary Commission goes and budget is concerned, the Presiding Commissioner I believe is the Chair of that commission and he is responsible for the Commissioner’s part of the budget.
So what he is saying is that he tied his own hands and could not do anything about it. That is a pretty slick trick. For the record the 3% is on the total pay not Commissioner Cook’s “take home” amount. The voters are a lot smarter than that.
In response to Commissioner Cook’s allegation that he was forced to take a pay increase from the county, this is the first time I have heard a politician claim they had no choice but to take a pay increase. I wonder what that crime would be. The fact is that candidate Bill Cook said he would not take a pay increase in office, and Commissioner Bill Cook did take a pay increase after only one month in office. Commissioner Cook increased his annual salary from $58,182.97 to $59,928.45. In response to Commissioner Cook saying that he offset the $1,200 by not taking a reimbursement, he took a taxpayer paid trip to Washington DC in March that included airfare and lodging for a week. This cross-country trip may have been the offset.
Presiding Commissioner Gary Mallory commented on this post that it was a salary commission that set the salary increases in the county. Mallory is the Chair of the Cass County Salary Commission and he signed the Commission report in 2007 allowing county officials including the County Commissioners to receive an annual pay increase. The State Statute, RSMO 30.333, allows the salary commission to meet as many times as it deems necessary, which means that they could meet anytime to cut off the salary increases to county officials, including the Commissioners. The above referenced statute also allows the compensation for county officers to be adjusted by the County Commission. In addition, the State Statute, RSMO 50.610 authorizes the county commission to revise, alter, increase or decrease the items contained in the county budget. As you can see, I believe that it is not a crime for a County Commissioner to refuse a pay increase.
I don’t know why anyone at the county level is getting raises when many companies are dropping their 401(k)s. But someone who specifically says he won’t accept an increase then VOTES for a 3% raise is a hypocrite. Has this been reported elsewhere?
Lastly, I’d like to see his expense reports to follow up on his comment: I am taking that out of my expense that I could be reimbursed for.
Neophyte asks if this has been reported elsewhere. I will tell you it has not, but not because Danny and Chris haven’t tried. They pointed this out to me, probably two months ago. As most know, our papers in both Belton and Harrisonville continue to thrive because we operate lean - too lean to cover every story we would like to. There are only so many hours in a week, and I, for one, consistently hit the 60-hour mark. This IS, however, a very interesting subject with two distinct points of view. I won’t throw something out there along these lines unless I can cover it responsibly and diligently, and I am hoping to devote some time to it in the upcoming month or so as other things slow down.
This is such a breakdown of leadereship. At a time when revenues are down, jobs are being lost, and people are losing their homes our Commissioners vote themselves a pay increase. To add insult to our intelligence, they claim they had no choice but to vote themselves this increase. Where is the transparency in “I am taking that out of my expense that I could be reimbursed for”?
In this time of great anxiety and economic stress we would hope that our leaders would be responsible and build trust instead of trying to sell us these excuses. I am beginning to think they are out of touch with the people they represent. Pay increases and trips to Washington D.C. Sounds like a mini AIG!
Wasn’t it Mr. Cook and Mr. Huston who denounced a tax increase to Harrisonville voters that would brilg an early ed center to the area? This center that would have brought jobs and drawn in young families to settle here was called an “entitlement” program by those whose children attend private school. I am pretty tired of the “Party of NO”. I guess these raises was one example of the party saying yes for a change.
If Bill Cook gets the roads fixed and deals with the other issues of poor management in this county, then I say more power to him.