‘Little guy’ always asked to sacrifice
To the editor:
Once again Cape Coral does it again. On the front page of the Cape Coral Breeze on March 5, the top story “City employees to vote on 3% pay cut”. City Manager Gary King said “to cover a pending budget shortfall”. At the bottom of the same front page, “Public Works reorganization to be discussed Monday” goes on to state reclassification of a stormwater manager into the utilities director, which came with a pay raise. City Manager Gary King said Monday it was more important for the new director to be a good leader than to have a Professional Engineer’s license, and that engineers don’t necessarily have that “key attribute” he is looking for. It sounds to me like it’s the same old “It’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know.” Otherwise, why would he even consider hiring a utilities director at such a large salary that cannot even sign off on plans and documentation?
The Cape Coral Daily Breeze has Web polls. This week’s is “Should a proposed 3 percent pay cut also be applied to management positions?” 65% of the people say YES, 32% say management should take a BIGGER cut. Another Poll was “Is cronyism tainting city appointments?” 84% said YES. These are the people that the city manager and the council are working for and supposed to be listening to. So why do they keep taking away from the little guys and giving it to the top guys? I say if you have to “cover a pending budget shortfall”, start at the top with the city manager getting a 3 percent pay cut and work all the way down. Only then would it be fair for all.
Linda Evans
Cape Coral