Paychecks can often be a sticking point when it comes to government work.
It isn’t that government employees necessarily toil in poverty. It’s that there can be a big difference between what the same work merits in public service versus private.
The presidency, for example, comes with a $400,000 annual salary. That’s generally a significant pay cut for the person who gets the job. Tom Wolf gets $194,850 a year for being Pennsylvania’s governor, but as the longtime businessman pledged $10 million of his own money toward his campaign, that was obviously a step back financially.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, has announced his retirement in two years to join the private sector. That follows high-profile resignations in recent years such as Mike Turzai, who left his seat as state Speaker of the House in June.
But that is politics. When it comes to the day-to-day kind of jobs, there is still a divide in many positions.
Work in information technology for a state agency will never be able to match the base pay at a software company — and that’s without the perks like stock options. A scientist working for the government will not have the same opportunities as one working for Big Pharma. The paycheck for an assistant district attorney can’t equal the billable hours of a private litigator.
Government needs to do what it can to stay in the game, but there also has to be an understanding that, to some extent, public service can be a calling more than a path to a fully-fleshed early retirement fund.
Last week, Westmoreland County agreed to pay bumps for a number of employees, including auditors and court reporters, who would receive one-time $9,000 increases. Controller Jeff Balzer said giving the raises would be cheaper than hiring outside contractors for the work, but denied allegations from Commissioner Gina Cerilli that the statement was a threat.
“It was a talking point, and I don’t have the authority to do that,” Balzer said.
The wage gap between a government employee and a private one is a documented problem in all levels of government. Getting qualified people to work for the state or county or local authorities is important but hard to do when the pay isn’t up to private par. Commissioner Doug Chew has said correcting that was a 2020 goal.
But 2020 had other plans, including a pandemic that has made keeping a job a goal and getting a raise a luxury. With state and national unemployment a problem and tax revenue uncertain, one has to wonder if this is exactly the right time to bridge that gap, no matter how necessary a solution is in the long run.
Because the people who really pay the bill aren’t the people who write the checks. They are the county residents and property owners, and the gap between what they can afford and what they are being asked to pay isn’t getting any smaller either.
