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 Rewarding Public Service
by Tom Campbell
August 7, 2008
It wasn’t too many years ago that serving in an elected position was a capstone event in a person’s life, an opportunity for a person to gratefully give something back to the community, county, or state. Most elected officials served a few years and then gave up their seats to another. There was no thought of financial reward or benefit; this was part of being a good citizen.
No doubt elected service was less demanding or time consuming then. Service today requires quite a commitment. To offset these pressures and time spent away from the job or family, governmental units started paying stipends to elected officials. The payments were so small few complained of the remuneration of city council members, county commissioners, even legislators.
Recent revelations question how much and how long we should compensate elected officials. Town council members in Chapel Hill recently considered continuing to pay health insurance premiums for members who had served two or more terms but were no longer in office. A public outcry halted the effort but raised new questions.
We weren’t aware that local governments were covering and paying for health insurance for elected officials but it is apparently a pretty common benefit. The justification for the practice is that city council and county commissioners put in so many hours they are often forced to work part-time jobs that don’t provide health insurance benefits. Even if a case can be made for providing health insurance for those actively serving, what justification can be given for continuing this benefit after an official no longer serves?
A Mecklenburg County Commissioner who is retiring this summer after twelve years of service wants to have his health insurance coverage continued. He is even willing to pay for the insurance, at the county’s group insurance rate. There appears to be no law that prevents furnishing health insurance benefits to elected officials while in office, however several legal experts do not believe current law extends that benefit after an official has left office.
Part of the difficulty in providing health insurance to elected officials at a city or county’s group rate is that coverage may not be transferable years later or comes at a much higher cost. This is a concern of all citizens and points to the debate likely to be held about who should own your insurance coverage. But this isn’t the issue at point.
We owe a great debt of appreciation to the men and women who are elected to serve us but it is obvious that we need a healthy discussion about fair and appropriate compensation to them for their efforts to insure that all is open and aboveboard. It may be old fashioned and unreasonable to expect elected officials to serve merely for the satisfaction derived from benefiting their community, but if so we deserve more disclosure on what benefits are provided. We need to know how those who serve are being served. |
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