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Show I 1 Community Cf Comments . . . Y Grand County's commissioners, two of whom will ; be in office for only another month and a half, must not I have been listening to taxpayer groans from California ! to Maine this year groans of protest over spiraling ; costs of government and increased taxes. ; Nor were they listening to President Jimmy Carter's plea to the nation two weeks ago when he urged voluntary restraints on wage and salary increases ; in an effort to combat inflation. ! While salary increases for most County officials ! and employees, as listed in the proposed new county budget appear to be entirely within reason, the jumping of County Commission salaries from $400 to $750 per ; month is appalling. Granted, the task of representing residents as a ; County Commissioner is one which has become extremely time-consuming. With a good deal of ! authority now vested in regional and state government, j the necessity for time-consuming travel is much greater than it was a few years ago. In addition, the growth of J Grand County has made the operation considerably j more complex, which requires more time of its chief governing board. Nonetheless, the job of County Commissioner is still a part-time affair, requiring only as much time as each Individual Commissioner is willing to give it. Like many boards, commissions, councils, etc., throughout the state of Utah, the job of County Commissionerexcept Commissionerex-cept in the most heavily populated counties---should continue to be something of a labor of love: fulfillment of an obligation of service that comes with being a responsible citizen. It must also be remembered that City Councilmen in Moab are paid only $200 per month, and school , board members at least when I served on that board a couple of years ago received only $50 per month. And, there were plenty of times as a school board member when I would have gladly traded places with a county commissioner, especially at the end of a losing basketball season or at the end of a school year when parents of numbers of senior students realized too late that their kids wouldn't make the graduation list due to a lack of proper filling of requirements for graduation. Fortunately, the figures listed in the budget are proposals, at least at this point in time. A public hearing on the document has been set for Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. It is almost certain that the hearing chambers will be filled on that evening. Grand County residents are very little different than residents of similar communities all across the nation, who are making their feelings about irresponsible spending habits of government known, through referendum, spending limits and new faces in office. The lack of tempting financial reward has never left us with a situation where people are unwilling to serve. If memory serves me well, I can't recall an election in years for County Commission or City Council, where there weren't long lists of qualified people seeking those slots. I predict that raising the salary levels from $400 to $750 per month won't change that a whole lot. Many qualified people wouldn't take a Commission job if it paid $100,000 a year. Many other qualified people would be willing to serve for practically nothing. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it will always be. Candidates who sought office knowing full well what the financial rewards would be, should be content to serve on those terms. There are many important areas of spending in Grand County that need attention. Those areas should be addressed as quickly as possible, particularly speedy funding for-water and sewer improvements in Spanish Valley. And until those items are satisfied, I'm not so sure that even $400 per month is not too much for the job. Sam Taylor |