Joe Muench had a fantastic column this Sunday regarding the pay of our County Judge and Commissioners, and the proposal to create a Chief Administrator position at the County.
Muench says:
The county judge in El Paso makes $87,027 a year. The four commissioners make $60,855 each. Both those salaries are about double that of the mayor and members of the City Council, respectively.
Raise your hand if you think the county judge and the commissioners work twice as hard as the mayor and council members.
Fantastic stuff.
It's like what I said last week:
County Judge Veronica Escobar makes over $80,000, while Mayor Oscar Lesser makes $45,000.
As I said before, the County has a lot less of a workload than the City. So it makes no sense that a well-paid elected board, Commissioners Court, and its staff, needs to create an additional department. Well, take it back, it would make sense if only the Commissioners Court voted to decrease their own salary.
I know. I just pulled a Jaime O. Perez and quoted myself.
Now I want to hear Veronica Escobar's reason as to why the pay for Commissioners Court should NOT be reduced in light of this new position.
She's got nothing.