In a special meeting held on short notice with the deadline for filing as a candidate to run for Mayor the Village Council voted to raise the salary of the Mayor to $12,600.

The salary for the mayor was due to be lowered to $7,200 a year beginning in Janaury 2008. The mayor called a special meeting so that the council could raise the salary back to $12,600.

The ordinance was passed as an emergency measure so the resident cannot petition it and place it on the ballot to allow the Village to vote on it.

Way to go Village Council. Who were you watching out for when you made that vote? Surely not the residents of this Village.

Thank you Ron Hays, Marzia Helton, Ann Marks and the newly sworn in council member for that evening for voting in such a way to not allow the residents a chance to have a say.

We know who you are looking out for, and it is obivously not the residents.

Copy Of My Letter To Council

Member of Council,

I wanted to give you a little information concerning the salaries of the Mayors of surrounding Villages and Cities. Had you done a little homework yourself you could have come up with these numbers before you blindly passed the ordinance raising the salary of the mayor back to the previously too high salary rate in my opinion. I was able to gain this information in about one hour?’s worth of time calling the different municipalities around the area. Something you could have done just as easily if you had wanted too. It comes down to having the most information that you can have to make the best decision you can for the VILLAGE, not the individual. I am sorry to see that you did not take the little extra effort to research this matter.

I have provided to you the name of the municipality, the population, the mayor?’s salary, the total budget for the municipality and the percentage of the budget that represents the mayor?’s salary.

Municipality Population Mayor?’s Salary Annual Budget % of budget
Marble Cliff 550 $12,000 $1,000,000 1.2%
Obetz 4000 $20,000 $5,000,000 0.4%
Lithopolis 600 $1,000 Unavailable
New Albany 4000 $18,000 $11,000,000 0.2%
Grandview Heights 6700 $18,000$10,000,000 0.2%
Canal Winchester 6300 $62,500 $19,000,000 0.3%
Groveport 5000 $18,250 $22,000,000 0.08%

Valleyview 600 $12,600 $400,000 3.0%
Valleyview 600 $7,200 $400,000 1.8%

When I proposed the Ordinance to lower the mayor?’s salary it did not have anything to do with the then current financial difficulties the Village was facing. It had everything to do with the mayor?’s salary being entirely too high for a village the size of ours and the size of budget. Valleyview?’s mayor?’s salary is significantly higher than any other municipality when you look at the percentage of the yearly budget.

Ask yourself this question, what could the $5,400 been used to purchase, maybe the new mower for the Village? That amount almost pays for the new mower at $7,600.

Look at what it would be over the four year term. There is talk of building a new garage for the Village, expected costs are somewhere between $25,000 to $30,000. The savings over fours years would be $21,600. That almost pays for the Village?’s new garage. Same with new playground equipment, the $21,600 would go a long way towards paying for a new playground set for younger children or making improvements to our existing equipment and facilities.

$5,400 a year also goes a long way for paying for a part-time maintenance person to mow the park, clean up problem areas in the Village, plow snow or take care of faded and leaning signs.

Copy Of My Letter To Council II

Your decision to raise the mayor?’s salary back to what I believe to be an unacceptable level shows your short sightedness and lack of attention to the big picture in my opinion. Yes the Village is in a better financial environment than it was 4 years ago, but leading up to the problems of four years ago we where always told we were in great financial shape and look what happened. You cannot predict the future so you need to make sure that money is available for when that rainy day comes.

As a member of council you have to be looking towards the future, not just the present. Now you can only dream about what could have been. The Council had an opportunity to support the financial health of the Village for the future and chose to look the other way.

Beyond the lack of looking into the matter more fully, and beyond not looking out for the future financial health of the Village what troubles me most is the way that the council handled the entire matter.

You attended a special meeting called at nearly the last minute to pass the mayor?’s raise as an emergency measure. You took the voice of the people away from them. Because it is an emergency measure the residents cannot petition to have it placed on the ballot so the voice of the people cannot be heard.

In talking with many of you, you stated that you would have voted the same way. That is fine, but when you do not represent the residents and allow them the opportunity to petition their grievances you go against everything that is provided for in the Constitution of the United States and the State of Ohio.

Who waited until the last minute to present this Ordinance? Why was it not brought forward in June or July? It was not a new ordinance to lower the mayor?’s salary, it was passed in 2004. Why the delay in presenting it to council so that it did not have to be passed as an emergency measure? Ask yourself these questions and I would love to hear the answers.

It appears the Mayor pulled a fast one on you and in the process you failed to protect the interests of the residents of this Village. From an outside perspective the Council went down to the Village Hall, did not ask any questions and then proceeded to ignore the rights of the residents and voted yes. I wish one Member of the Council would have had the courage to stand up for the residents and say no.

i know i know

the are all (including the mayor) in mr valleyviews hip pocket. we all know its true but no one has the chonies to say it!!!