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Show County officials should drop raise County RepubUcan leaders are afraid that the recent 20 percent p iy raise our esteemed county commissioners com-missioners gave themselves recently may have an adverse affect at the polls. And well it should. Under Utah County's current form of commission government', it is only at the polls that the public can have any say in what goes on in the halls of the county building. But local party leaders have gone a step further in a central committee meeting last week when they asked the commissioners to rescind the pay raise that boosted the commissioners' individual salaries by more than . $600 a month --about $7,500 a year. The action created cries of outrage from throughout the county - most of which were pooh-poohed by the Republican commission as propaganda generated by ! the handful of Democrats left in Utah County, i Instead, patting themselves on the back for doing such a good job, the commissioners have happily gone about their business of taking a bigger piece of the public's pie. But last week's action by local Republican leaders demonstrates how deeply Utah County citizens resent j the arrogance of county leaders in making an exorbitant , pay raise effective during their own term of office. If the party leaders feel strongly enough to urge the l commissioners to rescind the pay raise -- imagine how j perturbed the rest of us are. At the same meeting, however, local Republican leaders learned that a Dan Jones poll showed that if the , commissioners did a turn-around on the pay raise, it would be an admission that the initial raise was a mistake. Let's face it. They did. For elected public officials to increase their own salary by 20 percent while in office is not only wrong, it's a betrayal of public trust. If the commissioners fail to act to restore that trust, they will be committing another error. There are solutions to the current dilemma at the Utah County Building. Local citizens can express their outrage at the pay raise through letters to the commissioners com-missioners and to the newspapers. This approach has been ineffective to date, but if enough people complain, it may make a difference. County residents should also give serious consideration con-sideration to current efforts to change the way Utah County government is run, with a change from an all powerful county commission to a form that provides the standard checks and balances we all expect from government, but don't enjoy in Utah County. A group of dedicated men and women is now working to develop a proposal that would do just that - without the support of the Utah County Commision, of course. The problem is there is little that can be done to force a change in the way things are done. Elected officials in Utah cannot be recalled, there's no provision for that in state law. Citizens can express concern, and hope something gets done. But don't count on any action. The commissioners can be voted out of office -but not until next year. And then the pay raise will remain in effect. Or local residents can consider supporting a proposal to change Utah County government that will be forthcoming for-thcoming in 1986 - and see to it that county government officials will never again be in a position to augment their own salaries without some outside control. Whatever course is taken, the commission members must be told, convincingly, that they made the mistake when they gave themselves the 20 percent pay raise -and that by refusing to consider admit that mistake, they compound a growing rift between themselves and the public they said they would represent. |
