The Post-Star offers local government some advice: no raises

Here’s how the Glens Falls Post-Star frames the question of local government boards giving themselves raises:

Any politicians who propose pay raises for themselves while laying off workers and denying raises to others is simply just … what’s the word? … unbelievable.

Yet some members of the Glens Falls Common Council are tentatively testing the waters for such a pay raise.

The editorial does wrestle with a nagging concern for many local boards: convincing people to work long hours in a controversial, often heated environment, for little pay.

Raising a councilman’s $10,000 compensation by $300, as a 3 percent raise would do, isn’t going to get any better candidates. If you want a better class of candidates to consider running, you’d have to double that pay, not bump it up by a couple hundred dollars.

What do you think? Should local officials earn more? Less? Should symbolic issues like this matter to voters? Comments welcome below.

Tags: adirondacks