The Hidden Bonus in Wicomico’s Budget
On Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council will vote whether to approve County Executive Rick Pollitt’s supplemental budget for Fiscal Year 2009. This budget will be slightly different from Pollitt’s proposed budget. The Council decided to cut $646,000 from education and suggested that the cut be applied to roads ($300,000), contingency ($206,000) and fire companies ($140,000). Pollitt has agreed to apply the cuts per council’s recommendation.
Also in budget is the establishment of a county legal department. Ed Baker will continue as County Attorney, but will now be a full time employee of Wicomico County.
In principle, this is a good move on the part of Pollitt and the County Council. While Baker has provided excellent service, we all know that there can be serious problems with contracting out the job of a county or city attorney. Just look at Salisbury.
There is, however, one little surprise in the creation of the legal department. Mr. Baker, while not becoming a full time county employee until FY 2009, will have his pension benefits be based on a RETROACTIVE date of service of 1989!
Pollitt’s office explains:
According to IRS rules, Mr. Baker should have been in the plan all along sine he is regarded(by the IRS) as an employee not as a contractor.
As far as I know, Baker is a member of the law firm of Seidel, Baker & Tilghman. Was the county taking out federal and state income tax withholding from checks sent to Baker’s firm? Was the county deducting half of the FICA and Medicare taxes (and paying the other half)? Was her receiving other benefits from the county?
Now I don’t begrudge Mr. Baker anything. I have nothing but the greatest respect for him. I also don’t know what the estimated cost of this retroactively enhanced pension is. That is not the point! We need a little truth in advertising here.
If this was a deal negotiated between Baker and Pollitt, and Pollitt feels that keeping Baker as the County Attorney is in the best interest of taxpayers, fine. But that is not the reasoning given for this decision.
We are not talking about some exotic compensation package for a Fortune 500 CEO. We’re discussing the pay and benefits of a COUNTY EMPLOYEE. The taxpayer needs to come first!
While I feel that keeping Baker IS a good thing, I hope that a majority of the Wicomico County Council votes down the budget because of this. If my good friend Rick Pollitt thinks that he caught a bunch of flak over handing out bonuses to key employees last year, wait until the public gets a load of this.
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