Criticize, but let go of the anger
The anti-establishment anger that has swept the country and world — leading to the election of Donald Trump and the vote in Great Britain to leave the European Union, among other things — seems, finally, to have arrived in Santa Fe.
Just look at happenings on Wednesday night at the meeting to establish a salary for the next mayor of Santa Fe. The poor citizens on the Independent Salary Commission likely won’t volunteer to help out again for a long time. As described by New Mexican reporter Daniel J. Chacón, the meeting turned ugly. Crowd members heckled, interrupted and generally made nuisances of themselves to show their displeasure with a hefty salary for the mayor.
Despite the criticism, the panel voted 4-3 to set the salary at $110,000 (above the $74,000 placeholder salary that was on the ballot when citizens approved the so-called strong-mayor system, but well below a range of $145,000 to $175,000 earlier considered by the commission). The bad feeling from this process is going to linger, we’d wager. The ill will in the room was too widespread.
Several questions remain. There’s action at the New Mexico Supreme Court to try and halt the work of the commission, citing conflict of interests by some members. Santa Fe County Republican Party Chairwoman Yvonne Chicoine thinks the independent commission started its work too early; the charter language empowers such a commission in 2018, not 2017, by her reading of the law (and she’s a lawyer, and a smart one). Those issues will have to play out before we know if the commission’s recommendation on salary will be the last word.
The commission exists through an ordinance establishing it as a way to carry out the charter amendment approved by voters. Because of the charter amendment, a strong mayor will be elected in 2018 — the job will be full time. The mayor’s responsibilities include helping set policy and establishing a budget, as well as having the power to fire the city attorney, the county manager and the city clerk. To set pay, the charter amendment called for an independent salary commission, with pay set at $74,000 a year until a commission determined otherwise.
It’s that $74,000-a-year figure that has many folks upset. Critics believe voters thought they were voting on a $74,000 annual salary, not a penny more. That has turned out not to be the case. Setting the salary over the figure on the ballot will further erode citizen trust in government. Former Mayor Larry Delgado, who attended the meeting, said it well: “I think there was some confusion when the ballot went out and $74,000 was said, and I think a lot of people voted [thinking] that’s what the salary was going to be.”
There is too much bad feeling — still — over how money was spent from a parks bond, and more recently, sentiment that the city is not paying attention to what’s important to locals. While we supported a tax on sugary drinks to pay for pre-K in Santa Fe — obesity is too great a public health epidemic and early childhood education too great a need — the results of the recent special election killing the tax revealed that voters have other things on their minds.
City leaders should pay attention. Citizens are engaged, and they are angry (that does not give audience members license to be rude, however). In the face of that anger, councilors should be figuring out how to thank the commission for its work and a find a way to put in place the pay the voters thought they were approving. Yes, commissioners set the salary, but there’s no clear language that says they can’t vote twice.
Then, the council must instruct City Manager Brian Snyder to reassess how his government is organized — that way, come March, the city won’t be paying a city manager, deputy city manager and a mayor, in addition to the many department heads and other top officials.
A strong mayor is more than the size of his paycheck, after all. Someone in city government should be figuring out the mayor’s duties and responsibilities. Someone needs to determine just how many bosses are necessary and how to spread the work around. Someone needs to consider whether more than 20 employees working for the city of Santa Fe should be making six-figure salaries, especially in a city where latest Census figures show per capita income at around $33,000.
The discussion over pay won’t be going away, but it could settle down if citizens believe they are being heard. Otherwise, the anger that engulfed the nation could become a permanent fixture of our once-friendly city.