[Winona Online Democracy] To reply to Roy Nasstrom's questions.
Maybe I shouldn't be the one who first takes a stab at this but I will. Please view the following points only as mine. I speak for no one else but myself. I also do not claim to be an expert on all these topics. I have some limited knowledge of what City Council and School Board members do but I don't know everything they do. I can see both sides of the issues. ------ On the one hand: 1. As high as it may seem, County Commissioners in Winona actually get paid less than most similiar sized counties in Minnesota. When I first decided to run for County Board I had no idea Commissioners made so much money. As high as it was, I was surprised to later find out that Winona was actually on the low end. The Winona Daily News ran a good comparison graph a few months ago with that data. 2. County Commissioners are responsible for a larger geographical area. 3. Generally speaking, the County Board is responsible for a wider range of issues. County Commissioners have 3 regular meetings per month and serve on many committees. Between the five of us, different combinations of Commissioners serve on nearly 50 committees. In all fairness, some of the committees do not meet that often but most require at least once a month meetings. ------ On the other hand: 4. Like City Councils and School Boards, the County Board has also turned over many of the functions it used to carry out to full or part time professionals. I personally think that since the County government is adding full time professional staff, we should be reducing our salaries since our work load lessens each time a staff person is added. My salary is basically the same now as it was two and a half years ago. I will try to keep it the same as long as I serve. It's a personal choice. But that's nothing compared to the Mayor of Goodview. Ask Jack how long he has served and how much his salary has increased. :-> 5. I believe City Council and especially School Board salaries should be increased. It takes up a tremendous amount of time. Most of these people do plenty of charity and volunteer work as is. There are real professional and personal costs associated with serving in public office. 6. City Council members work hard. School Board members also work hard and take a lot of heat for the tough decisions they have to make. How many of us would want to serve on the School Board during these tough times? It's doubly hard for School Boards because they are the only local elected body that has to ask for referendums in order to raise their tax levies. That should be changed soon. ------ Why is it all this way? I think partly due to tradition and partly due to inertia. Are there better and more fair ways of doing things. I sure believe so but the status quo is a powerful force. Beyond the salary issue, I think the more important and interesting question is what should a 21st century local government look like? Dwayne Voegeli April 18, 2005 ------- >Status: > >[Winona Online Democracy] > > >Coming originally from California, I can't say I'm really surprised about >anything in politics, but the salaries of the county commissioners >certainly are high in relation to other elected governmental officials. >Differences among elected officials in the United States reflect many >factors, including state policy, the function of a career administrator, >area covered, relative importance of decisions made, time required on job, >political clout, history, and, perhaps above all, local or regional >culture. School board salaries are almost always lower than those of other >officials for various reasons, primarily because of the strong >administrative role of the superintendent but also because of the >persistence of the historical and sentimental belief that caring for >children should be purely charitable. Thus many districts, including those >in Texas and on Long Island, do not give school board members any salaries >at all. (But other districts in the U.S. pay over $30,000 a year.) >Differences can be expected under the American tradition of local >autonomy. > > > >I suspect the difference here may go back to the time when rural interests >and conditions were paramount in the county, but I cannot be sure. Do >county commissioners have substantially more duties than the city council >members? Do any of the long-term residents of this area or any elected >officials have any ideas on the specific reasons behind the difference >here? > > > >Roy Nasstrom > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: lbfort > To: Online Democracy > Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 2:55 PM > Subject: [Winona] county board > > > [Winona Online Democracy] > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > Is anyone else out there as outraged as I am by the front page article >in this week end's Post? > I certainly hope the voters realize who is spending the tax dollars on >the board when the next election comes up. > Some (probably many) of the voters do not make 32,000. a year at their >jobs that they need to take care of their families. > I will not forget this bit of information come next election. > Hats off once again to Dwayne and Marcia for doing what is best for the >voters/tax payers and not taking 'advantage' of the system. > > Linda Fort > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > ><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> ><HTML><HEAD> ><META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> ><META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2627" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> ><BODY bgColor=#ffffff> ><DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> ><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" >size=3>Coming originally from California, I can't say I'm >really surprised >about anything in politics, but the salaries of the county commissioners >certainly are high in relation to other elected governmental officials. >Differences among elected officials in the United States reflect many factors, >including state policy, the function of a career administrator, area covered, >relative importance of decisions made, time required on job, political clout, >history, and, perhaps above all, local or regional culture. School board >salaries are almost always lower than those of other officials for various >reasons, primarily because of the strong administrative role of the >superintendent but also because of the persistence of the historical and >sentimental belief that caring for children should be purely charitable. Thus >many districts, including those in Texas and on Long Island, do not give >school >board members any salaries at all. (But other districts in the U.S. pay over >$30,000 a year.) Differences can be expected under the American tradition >of local autonomy.</FONT><FONT size=3><FONT >face="Times New Roman"> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = >"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P> ><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" >size=3></FONT> </P> ><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" >size=3>I suspect the difference here may go back to the time when rural >interests and conditions were paramount in the county, but I cannot be sure. >Do county commissioners have substantially more duties than the city >council members? Do any of the long-term residents of this area or any elected >officials have any ideas on the specific reasons behind the difference here? ></FONT></P> ><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT >face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P> ><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" >size=3>Roy Nasstrom</FONT></P></FONT></DIV> ><BLOCKQUOTE >style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; >BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> > <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> > <DIV > style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: >black"><B>From:</B> > <A [EMAIL PROTECTED] > href="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">lbfort</A> </DIV> > <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A [EMAIL PROTECTED] > href="mailto:[email protected]";>Online Democracy</A> </DIV> > <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, April 17, 2005 2:55 >PM</DIV> > <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Winona] county board </DIV> > <DIV><BR></DIV>[Winona Online Democracy]<BR><BR> > <P> > <HR> > > <P></P> > <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2627" name=GENERATOR> > <STYLE></STYLE> > > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Is anyone else out there as outraged as I am by > the front page article in this week end's Post?</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I certainly hope the voters realize >who is > spending the tax dollars on the board when the next election comes > up.</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Some (probably many) of the voters do not > make 32,000. a year at their jobs that they need to take care of their > families.</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I will not forget this bit of information > come next election.</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hats off once again to Dwayne and Marcia for > doing what is best for the voters/tax payers and not taking 'advantage' >of the > system.</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Linda Fort</FONT></DIV> > <P> > <HR> > > ><P></P>_______________________________________________<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BO >DY></HTML> > >_______________________________________________ >This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy >All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. >No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. >To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit >http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona >Any problems or suggestions can be directed to >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at > http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org > ------------ Dwayne Voegeli Winona County Commissioner (507) 453-9012 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 359 Pleasant Hill Dr. Winona, MN 55987 ------------ _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
