On her blog, Council member Megan Pratt defends her decision to enroll in the city retirement plan….simply because Pratt sees that it’s part of her compensation and she deserves to paid to be on the city council.
From Megan Pratt’s blog:
I believe that city council should be a paid position and that pay can take the form of paychecks or similar compensation.
By providing financial compensation, whether as a paycheck or contributions to a retirement plan, we can attract more of a range of people to serve on the council.
There is a cost to my family for me to be on the council. I am a fiscally responsible person. But I have to be fiscally responsible for my family, not just for the city. There is a cost to my family (not just my husband and kids, but also my parents and grandmother, who are participating in childcare) for me to be on the council: the opportunity costs of the money I could make if I looked for a job that needed someone of my training; the costs in time that my mom, my dad, my husband, and my grandmother are putting in to helping with the kids; the costs to my kids of the loss of time that I can spend with them; the actual money I will have to pay for a babysitter when my family can’t fill in. Without the salary, I would have a hard time justifying being on the council.
Couple points: Public service should be public service. The small salary and retirement shouldn’t keep one from running.
Pratt spent $56,876 to get elected – the most of any other council candidate. Three times more than the other at-large winner – Diane Mack; 16 times more than Maren DeWeese. Money didn’t seem to be an issue for Pratt during the campaign. Her huge war chest kept others from filing against her, not the council salary.
How can the council ask others to take cuts when they won’t?
Gulf Breeze City Council serves for $1 year.
