Bonuses vs. merit

Dear editor:

I read this week’s headline about the board of directors considering a 2% “bonus” to all city employees, in addition to a 2% cost of living increase. No doubt the board will rubber-stamp this; they’ve proven time and again they are incapable of showing any fiscal restraint, since it’s not their money, but ours, the taxpayers’.

A “bonus” is something that by definition is earned and merit-based. I ask all taxpayers of Hot Springs if they think conditions have improved to the point where city employees have truly earned a bonus? Our city streets are in terrible condition, poorly marked, cutouts and potholes everywhere. Traffic congestion is awful in some areas because the engineering department seems to want to install traffic lights every quarter mile. The same engineering and planning department can’t keep certain parts of Central Avenue from flooding every time we have sustained rainfall.

Crime at one point this year became almost out of control, and one only needs look at the front of this newspaper every day to see we have a major drug problem in the city.

Then there’s the still-vacant downtown site that used to be the Majestic Hotel. The city spent almost $2 million in the cleanup, then this same board of directors recently turned down a $2.1 million offer from a private developer who wanted to put a luxury resort hotel there.

So no, I do not believe the city employees have earned a 2% “bonus,” in any way, shape, or form. I would urge all taxpayers to contact their respective representative on the board, but even if they got ahold of them, it would fall on deaf ears. Cynthia Kehely is the last board member I can remember who was accessible and had some common sense and integrity.

Noah Little Hot Springs