Published: July 03, 2009 04:50 pm      

Barger made good decision with his ‘no’ vote on budget

Madison County Magistrate Roger Barger may be the only local elected official with a real grasp of what’s going in this economically challenging environment. Maybe he is the only one who truly is representing his constituents, voting no to approving Madison County Fiscal Court’s 2009-10 operating budget which contained a 3 percent across-the-board pay increase for all county employees.

Barger is the only elected official who is using good business sense in this very unpredictable recessionary climate, at least in my book! Maybe it is because he ran a successful business and understands all the challenges businesses face in managing through tough times. Maybe he has a better understanding of what his constituents are sacrificing just to keep their heads above water until the economy improves.

In voting no on the budget, Barger said in today’s economy, there is no room for pay increases. He went on to say, “The utility bills keep going up, the layoffs, I just don’t think it’s a good time for much of a raise.”

I’ve heard Barger is not a “rubber-stamp” kind of guy, and obviously will vote his conscious and stand up for what he believes. Kudos to you, sir.

Barger’s argument for not approving the budget with the pay raise is that he believes a raise given as a percentage is not fair because those making more are going to get more of a pay increase. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and, respectfully, that’s where I have to disagree with him.

An increase based on a set percentage certainly is more reasonable than what the city of Richmond approved in their budget, which contained a $1,000 pay increase for everyone. However, at least in my opinion, any across-the-board pay increase is not a fair evaluation of an employee’s performance and should never be used.

In the real business world, pay increases are merit-based because employees do not all work at the same level of performance and therefore, shouldn’t be compensated the same level. It’s also not fair to employees to receive pay increases that are not based on performance. When that is done, false levels of performance are created that eventually will come back to haunt a business or government and can create poor morale among employees and affect future performance.

Evidently, all of our local governments don’t operate like business when it comes to employee pay raises because each of them approved across-the-board pay increases in their budget whether they could afford them or not. This, along with uncontrolled spending, is part of the problem why governments are drowning in red ink in the current recession.

Even though Barger and I disagree on how employees should be awarded pay increases, I do commend him for his action and just maybe, he should be the only fiscal court candidate seeking re-election that citizens should return to office next year.

Magistrate Barger … you da man!

Nick Lewis is publisher of the Richmond Register. He can be reached at nlewis@cnhi.com or

624-6682.