PESKIN PROPOSES ELIMINATING CITY POSITIONS WITH BASE SALARIES OVER $150,000
25 March 2008
Aaron Peskin
BY PAT MURPHY
Sentinel Editor & Publisher
Copyright © 2008
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President today announced he will seek an ordinance eliminating City staff positions with base salaries more than $150,000 annually.
Peskin made the announcement during roll call for introductions of new legislation, noting the ordinance will be introduced for Board consideration next Tuesday.
“As well all know, in light of the ballooning deficit for the coming year reported in the joint report at at $338 million dollars, I think that it is imperative, colleagues, that we begin to pare down the current year budget,” stated Peskin.
“Not just through non-spending or freezing of funds, but actually through affirmative actions by the Board to amend the annual appropriations ordinance and the salary ordinance, and I welcome each and every member of this body in making those suggestions.
“I think it is a dialogue that we should begin now and we should undertake some of those difficult decisions sooner rather than later.
“To that end, I’ve been working with the City Attorney and the Controller to draft an ordinance which will be introduced next week, and I am requesting said ordinance today.
“I do not say this lightly, nor with any relish; I think we have a set of very difficult decisions that we need to make.
“The sooner we make them, the less the impacts in the coming year will be.
“I think that our workforce is very qualified, and each and every individual in it strives to do an extraordinary job, but to the extent that there are inevitably going to be I think pretty serious reductions in our workforce, we need to make some strategic decisions as to where those should be.
“Let me saY that I value and understand and acknowledge both the work of the highest and the lowest paid employees in this government.
“Having said that, if you have managers who have very few people left to manage their role is not as important as if you have robust staff underneath them.
“And I think we are coming to the point where we are going to need to make those decisions.
“To that end, I have asked the City Attorney and the Controller to draft as negative annual appropriations and annual salary ordinance that would eleminate all positions with base salaries over $150,000, that’s base salaries exclusive of fringe benefits and overtime — that are equally allowable.
“I will introduce that without relish or pride next Tuesday.”
See Related: LOCAL POLITICS
PAT MURPHY
Sentinel Editor & Publisher
In his youth, Pat Murphy worked as a General Assignment reporter for the Richmond Independent, the Berkeley Daily Gazette, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He served as Managing Editor of the St. Albans (Vermont) Daily Messenger at age 21. Murphy also launched ValPak couponing in San Francisco, as the company’s first San Francisco franchise owner. He walked the bricks, developing ad strategy for a broad range of restaurants and merchants. Pat knows what works and what doesn’t work. His writing skill has been employed by marketing agencies, including Don Solem & Associates. He has covered San Francisco governance for the past eleven years. Pat scribes an offbeat view of the human family through Believe It or What. Email Pat Murphy at SanFranciscoSentinel@yahoo.com.
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