Story posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Everyone Can Learn From Kind Gesture
Off The Record by TODD WESSELL | At a time when nearly everyone is affected in some way by the stressful and life-changing shifts of a depressed economy, people---our neighbors, friends and folks we don't even know---have the chance to either shine or to flop.
I want to share with you one recent example where people, who aren't necessarily portrayed as the giving type, made the remarkable decision to shine. Their decision, while it might not save taxpayers a lot of money, has an enormous symbolic effect, which we all can learn from.
For 33 years, this column has reported example after example of wasteful government spending, mainly on the local level because that's what the Journal & Topics Newspapers is all about---a group of 16 suburban community publications that report local news, good or bad, warts and all.
Much of the time, the news we report isn't the happy type. By definition, news is a reflection of the unusual in life, which often is not good. There are exceptions, however.
In last Wednesday's edition of the Des Plaines Journal, we reported that about 10 top city administrators have offered to forego pay raises this year citing bad economic conditions. City Manager Jason Bajor, who earlier in the year decided he would not accept a pay raise, complemented those department heads who made the offer, but explained that he'd have to think it over. He said that that accepting the offer might hurt staff morale overall and could bring some high level salaries too close to each other creating personnel problems down the line.
Last Thursday, Bajor informed us that he decided to accept the offer from his administrators. He faxed us a list of the dozen employees who signed and sent a letter to him on May 1 declaring their willingness to go without a raise this year. (See story elsewhere in today's Journal & Topics that lists the names of those 12 employees).
After asking around whether anyone can recollect such a gesture ever being made in Des Plaines city government, the answer was no.
Normally, department heads are granted annual pay raises similar to what city union workers receive through the process of negotiations. Those figures, generally speaking, amount to around 3 or 4% depending on the city manager's evaluations. For some, the raises can total around $3,000 more per year. For 12 individuals, that's another $36,000 in city expense. Out of a total city budget of approximately $135 million, $36,000 is tiny. Therefore, the real value of the no-pay raise gesture is not so much dollars and cents, but common sense and respect for the people they serve.
I, for one, consider their willingness to forego a pay raise a truly unique gesture of kindness and empathy toward the people of Des Plaines.
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