“The Buck Stops Here” is a widely used phrase that also applies to our County Board of Commissioners. We elected them to oversee County activities and employees and to spend our tax dollars wisely. In so doing they may delegate these responsibilities, in whole or in part, but they remain primarily responsible and “The Buck Stops Here” applies to each of them. So, how are they doing? Following are some actions approved by the Commissioners that taxpayers may want to consider when deciding how well the Commissioners are spending taxpayer funds.
The County Commissioners are getting a $5,000 (50%) pay increase effective January 1, 2023. At a recent budget hearing they were asked to reject this salary increase but they refused.
In January 2022 the Commissioners hired a new County Manager, Alicia Vaughn, from Catoosa County. This employee answers to the Commissioners who are responsible for supervising and approving her actions. However, three of the five Commissioners- Palmer, Mealor and Aikin, who usually vote together as a majority, appear to be giving this new County Manager a blank check.
Vaughn had walked off her job as County Manager at Catoosa County with no notice. According to The Catoosa County News, she simply turned in her keys and left. Her annual compensation appears to have been around $145,000. Our Commissioners hired her as County Manager on a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Jimmy Tench voting no. Her contract (see attached) calls for an annual salary of $165,000, a housing allowance of $18,000, plus an additional $27,450 annual contribution to the Deferred Compensation Plan for Senior Management. This contribution is to be calculated at 15% of her base salary plus 15% of her housing allowance and 15% of any vehicle allowance. Based on her contract this year’s total annual compensation should be approximately $210,450 which is about 46% more than our prior County Manager who received total annual compensation of approximately $144,000. Vaughn’s contract also calls for a new vehicle, available for County and personal use, with a replacement every 60,000 miles. All vehicle expenses, including insurance and gas, for both County and personal use, are to be paid by the County.
The first vehicle the Commissioners purchased for Vaughn is a fully loaded Ford Explorer SUV at a cost of approximately $60,000. This vehicle can be used for personal use including back and forth to her home in Catoosa County and for out of state shopping or vacations with the county picking up the tab for gas. This is a valuable fringe benefit since her contract also calls for Fridays off, plus 15% of the dollar amount calculated per IRS regulations for personal mileage is to be added to the County contribution to her deferred compensation account.
Unlike the County employees Deferred Compensation Plan where the County only contributes 50% of the employee contribution up to a maximum of 1% of the employee’s salary, Vaughn’s contract states that she gets a 15% County contribution without “a mandatory Employee contribution”.
When named County Manager, Vaughn fired the HR Director whose annual salary was $75,907 and replaced her with a former employee from Catoosa County at a salary of $102,180 plus added her to the Senior Deferred Compensation Plan thereby raising her total annual compensation by 15% to $117,507 which is 54% more than the prior HR Director. She was also allowed to work from her Catoosa County home on Fridays. When the Director of Public Works left, whose annual salary was $80,000, the County Manager hired a replacement at a salary of $80,000 and over the next six months raised his salary to approximately $92,000. She created a new position as Assistant Public Works Director and hired another former Catoosa County employee, at a salary of $88,000 who was also given Fridays away from the office. The Director of Finance’s salary in January 2021 of $90,000 was raised to $123,593 by July 2022, plus the County Manager added him to the Senior Deferred Compensation Plan which increased his total compensation 15% to $142,132. The EMS Director was added to the Deferred Compensation Plan for Senior Management which increased his annual compensation by 15% to approximately $103,500. Total cost to the County this fiscal year by adding these four employees to the Deferred Compensation Plan for Senior Management is approximately $79,000.
So how much of this “lavish” spending is being shared with the other County employees? Well, the County Commissioners authorized $800,000, less approximately $30,000 for a salary study, for the County Manager to distribute as employee pay increases. There are approximately 500 County employees including full-time, part-time and vacancies so this amounts to less than $30 per week to each employee if distributed evenly. How does this compare with the generous salaries and benefits listed above for certain senior management?
Now, with corporations throughout the U.S. cutting back on spending and putting a hold on all projects that can be postponed in anticipation of a coming recession, our County Manager wants to increase spending and is asking the Commissioners to approve creating a Public Facilities Authority where the Authority can incur debt with the County promising to make debt payments if the Authority fails to do so. The Authority can put the County into millions of dollars of long-term debt for a new jail, a new land fill, or any other project that can be considered as “Public Facilities”. Without such an Authority the Georgia Constitution requires voter approval before the County can incur any long-term debt for a project.
The Commissioners may vote on the creation of a Public Facilities Authority and the allocation of the employee pay increases at their monthly Board of Commissioners meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, November 21. If you want the Commissioners to hear your opinion on these items, you need to contact the Commissioners before their 6 p.m. meeting Monday evening. Also, you may opt to attend the meeting and express your feelings in person to the entire Board. To be allowed to speak, you need to call the County Clerk Friday to have your name added to the agenda and you will be allowed five minutes to speak, or you can sign up at the meeting and get three minutes.
Bob Guthrie
Cornelia
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