Many in public sector have better pay and benefits than private

For an example of that, just look at what the recently departed Winder city clerk was making: Total compensation with salary, insurance, retirement and other benefits topped $110,000 per year.

That was here, in Winder. A mid-level government employee was making a huge amount of money for a position that in the private sector would not pay half that much.

Of course, government employees don’t think they’re being paid too much. But many have no real frame of reference to judge that since they never worked in the private sector.

All of this began 40 years ago when many government employees were paid less than the private sector. To compensate for that, government agencies began to increase employee benefits: Better health insurance; better retirement plan; more holidays and paid vacation time.

But then government salaries, for the most part, caught up and then surpassed the private sector pay, especially in the white-collar administrative jobs.

Now, many government employees have far better salaries and benefits than similar private sector employees.

Winder’s situation wasn’t unique. If you take a look at many other towns’ city hall salaries, you’ll find the same kind of thing; excessive pay for mid-level job positions that are overpaid compared to private sector salaries.

Just about the only job positions in local government that aren’t being overpaid are in public safety and law enforcement, which are underpaid for the demands of those jobs. How can one justify compensating a clerk over $100,000 when the men and women who put their lives on the line make a third of that?

Of course, many government employees don’t understand this. I’ve heard many, many government employees say, “I could make more money in the private sector, but I like doing public service.”

That’s a myth. Most public sector employees couldn’t make nearly as much in the private sector as they do in government. Public sector employees have a distorted view of how the private sector works. Many government employees don’t know how good they have it with their public sector pay and benefits.

That’s why their complaining about pay is so irritating. “We need a raise, we haven’t had one in three years,” is the common refrain.

Well, neither has the private sector. But public employees feel entitled to a raise.

There’s a lot of debate today about the U.S. being divided into social classes, the one percent vs. the 99 percent, etc.

But the reality is, the nation is being divided into those who work for government who have gold-plated pay and benefits, and those who struggle in the private sector and pay the taxes to fund those plush public sector jobs.

That really irritates voters. A taxpayer goes into a public office to do some kind of business, but what they too often encounter are bad attitudes and lax service.

While one waits to get a permit or a tag, he gets to listen to government staff gossip about their private lives. The idea of “customer service” in many government offices doesn’t exist.

It doesn’t have to; government employees have the highest job security in the country. You just don’t see the kind of turnover in the public sector that you do in the private sector. That’s because there is no incentive for government employees to be competent or efficient in their jobs; nobody is going to fire them.

There are exceptions to this, of course. There are some well-run government offices where the staff is quick and courteous. You find those where you have strong leadership by elected officials.

What’s really hard to understand is how elected officials don’t police this problem better. Many of those on city council and county commissions come from the private sector. They should know that a city clerk being compensated over $110,000 in Winder is nuts.

And yet, the group dynamics of many commissioners and councils is to never raise those issues or ask any questions.

The situation with the former Winder city clerk is a textbook example of everything that is wrong with government. Too many paper-pushing public employees are making too much money for too little work.

The new administration in Winder is to be applauded for seeing that and taking action to fix it.

If only the state and federal governments would do likewise.

Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.