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Get What You Pay for in Vienna?

From a reader, Vienna Guy:

Is it true that the Mayor only pulls in $6,000 per year? I was going over the Legislative budget and came across this figure, as well as the $5,000 per year salary for counsel members. Does this suggest that you get what you pay for? I don't understand the motivation for anyone to put any effort into this position for that level of compensation - even if it is for the good of the community. The title of Mayor should be a full-time job.

Posted by Historic Vienna Posts on December 16, 2008 08:09 AM |

Comments

I agree. I am willing to cut services to pay for a full-time mayor. Ditto for drastically increasing town council pay to encourage serious candidates.

New ideas = Better quality of life in Vienna

Posted by: vienna mommy | December 16, 2008 08:15 AM

I don't believe that a town the size of Vienna merits a government at all. It should be disbanded & folded into the county.

Posted by: anne smith | December 16, 2008 02:45 PM

So Susan Stich was not a serious candidate? Deb Brehony was not a serious candidate? As has been pointed out on this site before many times, much of the entrenchment boils down to voters, not candidates.

What you would get is Mayor Seeman and the current council members getting much larger sums of money, but keeping their seats. It would certainly make for interesting posts here, that\\\'s for sure.

I suppose you could eliminate the Town Manager position and redistribute his responsibilities to Mayor Seeman, as is done in a Mayor / Council form of government. For some reason, I think that giving the mayor MORE responsibility is not what many members of this site have in mind, nor is it something they\'d want to see in a million years, though.

At the end of the day, the salary isn\\\'t going to make a difference. Voters will.

Posted by: The Internet | December 17, 2008 08:48 PM

The current crop of Council members would go by way of dinosaur if there were real salaries. If there were real salaries, real people would fight for the job, bringing more scrutiny and notoriety - good things. The current $5 a year salary attracts retirees, power hungry weenies and people not very successful in the private sector. So why are there no salaries? It's all part of the machine baby, it's how you keep power.

Posted by: Salary Matters | December 17, 2008 09:55 PM

I should clarify: Susan and Deborah were both serious candidates. Unfortunately, any attempt to unseat an incumbent is met with the rumor mill designed to undermine and humiliate challengers. Of course, all of it is engineered by the current politicians and their cronies. These lies are still spread to this day (people talk very loudly on the playgrounds and at the public pools).

Sadly, no one else has chosen to run since these women stuck their necks out.

Posted by: vienna mommy | December 23, 2008 09:06 AM

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