Town Council May Spend $10,000 on Wage Study
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 10, 2014
Cape Charles Town Council wants to spend $10,000 for a wage compensation study for town employees. At a Council “retreat” on Saturday (February 8), Council members Steve Bennett and Joan Natali emphasized that the “essential” study should be done as soon as possible.
Only Councilman Frank Wendell opposed the idea, arguing that town managers and directors are already paid to determine those requirements. Town Manager Heather Arcos said that most localities have an outside person determine wage and position descriptions, but she conceded that Cape Charles has never had such a study done. A knowledgeable source has observed that wage and compensation information is available for free on the Department of Labor website.
Arcos said the town could pay for the wage study with money budgeted to update the Comprehensive Plan. Town Council budgeted $30,000 for the update, but subsequently contracted for it to be done for $8,600.
Council members also discussed raising the transient occupancy tax from the current 3 percent to 3.7 percent. Combined with state and county taxes, Cape Charles tourists now pay 10.3 percent of their hotel bill in tax. Raising the town tax would make it 11 percent.
Arcos noted that the town spends money to attract tourists, and needs to “sustain momentum.” The transient occupancy tax could help the town provide funds for organizations such as Citizens for Central Park, Arts Enter, and Friends of Cape Charles Memorial Library.
Councilman Chris Bannon, who operates a bed and breakfast, said he hoped the tax increase could be approved before the tourist season begins.
Arcos also said that Cape Charles provides an “outsize” contribution to the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission, which maintains the Welcome Center at the Bridge-Tunnel. Council members agreed that the town should make a set contribution to the Tourism Commission instead of a percentage of the transient occupancy tax collected. Last year the town contributed $14,232 to the Tourism Commission.
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE
In other discussion at the four-hour retreat, Council members Steve Bennett, Joan Natali, and Chris Bannon expressed outrage over the treatment of Cape Charles assistant town manager Bob Panek by the Northampton County Board of Supervisors. Citing a perception of conflict of interest, the County Supervisors voted unanimously January 27 to halt funding of the county’s Public Service Authority so long as Panek remained its chairman. Panek resigned the following day as chairman but remains on the PSA board.
“There was no conflict of interest,” Bennett said, calling the County Supervisors’ action “appalling.” Natali said she also “was appalled that the Board of Supervisors has not stood behind the Authority that they created.”
Panek also spoke on the issue, noting that the PSA was not created by Northampton County but rather was the creation of the county and four towns in the county. He conceded, however, that the county has provided “most” of the funds to the PSA.
Arcos proposed that a working committee composed of town and county members should review the PSA. But Council members decided that rather than forming a committee, PSA issues should be raised at a meeting already planned with the Board of Supervisors February 18.
Arcos said that town staff [not including Panek, who recused himself] has sent a letter to the PSA laying out costs for providing sewer service. The information has not been made public.
Arcos said that according to the town’s attorney, providing sewer service to the PSA would not affect the Annexation Agreements between the town and Bay Creek. The town long sought to get the developer of Bay Creek (Baymark) to honor the Annexation Agreements by contributing to the cost of the new wastewater treatment plant, but ceased demands after then-Baymark official Steve Bennett was elected to Town Council.
Water and sewer connection fees for commercial properties were discussed at length at the retreat. “We are creating inequities in our business model by giving discounts and tax advantages to large users and increased costs to small users,” Councilman Wendell said.
Code Enforcer Jeb Bradey and Panek provided a chart comparing residential connection charges for Cape Charles, Berryville, Purcellville, Kilmarnock, and Bridgewater. Purcellville connection charges were highest at $71,000, and Bridgewater lowest at $9,000. Cape Charles connection fees are $12,350 for a residence. Onancock, although often compared to Cape Charles, was not included in the survey. Onancock charges $2,350 for a residential connection.
Panek told Council, “Clearly it needs more study. We know there are problems with the current formula.”
Council also reviewed the town Comprehensive Plan and discussed future projects. Wendell suggested the town look into purchasing property to use for parking for shoppers and tourists on Mason Avenue.
Wendell also observed that the retreat contained no mention of the town’s $10.5 million debt. “How can we have a retreat without considering what we can do to save money?” he asked.
If the citizens of Cape Charles do not vote these people out of office when elections come around, then I really feel sorry for them! How much longer will you all tolerate these shady back-room deals? Are you people really this gullible? Stand up for yourselves and your town! Who do you think will pay for all these discounts they’re giving for the connection fees? Stop all this good old boy mentality and move into the 21st century. Next thing you know they’ll be selling the town to a Japanese conglomerate, and having dolphin killings in the harbor. The Town Council is like a tumor, and needs to be removed before the rest of the body dies!
If you got, spend it. This is the Law of Political Physics. Expenses will always expand to the money available. Raise more taxes and this town council will find ways of spending it.
Spend it on a competency survey to see if anyone on the town council is smart enough to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Why is an “outside” study needed when town managers and directors are ALREADY PAID to do this? Kudos to Mr. Wendell for his stand against such spending. The town is already in debt, you have set aside money to complete the study; why then, do you need an “essential” study? Why are you ignoring your debt and spending what you don’t have? It sounds like the antics of the White House & Capital Hill have come to the shore by somehow passing all responsibility of debt onto the backs of the residents which is created by careless spending by those “governing.” What is the purpose of this “essential” study anyway? So all on the council can get a raise? I believe Northampton County is considered the POOREST county in the entire state of Virginia.
I am a resident of Virginia Beach and though political issues do not affect me directly, I do have family that are residents and I am concerned.
The connection fees for this sewer mess are outrageous! $12,350 for each residence! That may very well be a half year’s mortgage payments for some residents. Where are the jobs and the opportunities? How can a tax increase help the residents?
I hope those that live year-round on the Shore will decide to take a stand against the selfish and self-serving town council and also the Northampton Board of Supervisors. I have completed some research and can prove that those that sit on the Board of Supervisors and all of the county employees are making almost EQUAL the amount of salaries that our city government makes in Virginia Beach. As of 2012: Northampton County has a population of 12,226; Virginia Beach City has a population of 437,994.
You all need to wake up and stand your ground, while you still own it!
By the way, how much did the Council “Retreat” cost that took place on Feb. 8th and please give the residents an itemized list of expenses. It is their money!
I have said this before and I am saying it again — this town has far too many employees. I would love to be a fly on the wall and observe just what they do all day long. There is a Cape Charles employee that basically just rides around town all day. I never see him doing anything at all. I would like to know if the town pays for this study about wages and finds out they are getting paid too much — are they going to take a pay cut? Fat chance!
How can Onancock operate with 15 employees? They have more full-time residents and every bit as much summer tourism. I already know our town manager is making way more than Onancock’s town manager.
As far as all this outrage over Mr. Panek and the PSA — of course it’s conflict of interest. The PSA tried to bully Accomack County a few years ago and Accomack County sent them packing quick. Mr. Panek is simply trying to cover himself on this sewer plant mess and we all know it. Oh, and speaking of the sewer plant — it stinks all over town! I for one am tired of paying for water that I would NEVER drink or cook. Maybe the town could send their water guy to Onancock. I lived there for 18 years and the water was great. The water in this town makes my dog vomit, rusts everything, and smells bad!
Clearly our town council is “disturbed,” for lack of a better word. They are always favoring developers and sticking it to the citizens with higher taxes and utility bills.
At first, I thought this was an April Fool’s edition, but after I sobered up I realized it was still February. Why would you spend $10,000 just to be told what you already know? Is the Town having an employee retention problem? Are workers fleeing Cape Charles for higher paying jobs elsewhere? Most of us are pretty much unaware of any such exodus (if anything, the staff appears to be as bloated as last week’s road kill). Now, suppose the study provides data which indicates that we are paying our employees too much? What are you going to do, cut their pay? I doubt it. And if we are not paying them enough, how does the Town propose to fill the gap? Raise taxes again? Cut staff positions to accommodate across the board wage increases? All based on a redundant $10,000 study? Please, make it stop.
Oh, yes, Council wants to raise the transient occupancy tax so said funds can be used for organizations such as Citizens for Central Park, Arts Enter, and Friends of Cape Charles Memorial Library. Really? This is the same crew that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to thwart Old School Cape Charles’ attempt to retain public spaces for the ordinary people (basketball courts, 100 year old historic stage, indoor gymnasium, classrooms, etc.). Forgive me for being inquisitive, but what is the difference between OSCC and these other groups? The Town is willing to raise taxes to support them, yet from the beginning has done nothing but head butt the taxpaying citizens of Old School. Is it just plain old obstinance, intractability and pigheadedness? (This same arrogance can be detected in their reaction to the County’s move to cease funding the PSA.)
All that said, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Giese sum things up nicely.
Once again I read an article in the Wave that has raised my interest in town events. Approximately 7 years ago the town faced a similar situation where we attempted to ensure that we were working at the highest levels of competency within the town’s workforce. We constructed a comprehensive work sheet that we directed each town employee to fill out on what work and administrative procedures they performed on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. We also asked them what special skills, tools, and experiences were required in each of their positions.
The next step was to compare that information with their job description, educational level, work experience, technical skills, and salary. The idea was to provide these “work sheets” to a recently retired businessman/executive who was an “uninterested third party” (with experience in HR, budgets, salaries and compensation, etc.) to ascertain if there was any work redundancy, misplaced talents, or non-compliance with the job descriptions, etc.
The businessman/recently retired executive who we identified and felt was qualified enough to nominate to the town council lived in Cape Charles. More important, he was willing to perform this in depth study for $2,500-$3,000. Unfortunately, one of the council members was adamantly opposed to the idea so we shelved it.
I think it’s a good idea to examine the town’s business practices from time to time. However, I don’t think it was very prudent move to announce that the “starting point” for this endeavor is $10,000. There’s certainly enough talent within this great community to undertake this task without spending this amount of money, and I’m hoping that the town’s leadership re-thinks this idea before it acts on it .
BTW, the guy who was originally nominated to conduct that study 7 years ago still lives in town, but I suspect his price for that same service is now $10,000 — call it a good guess on my part.