By Philip Olson
Two years ago, the City Council requested that the City Finance Committee perform a study comparing Saratoga's employee compensation to other Bay Area cities' compensation and to comparable private-sector positions.
The study concluded that Saratoga's salaries were significantly higher than comparable private-sector positions and that Saratoga's management-level salaries were higher (as a percentage of their total budget) than the other 13 Bay Area cities included in the study. The third finding was that Saratoga's benefit package was "as generous as a typical large corporation."
The report recommended that a compensation consultant perform a total review of Saratoga's compensation program.
Apparently, the City Finance Committee's conclusions and recommendations were unpopular, so another study was approved and performed; the results of the second study were less dramatic. The second study was also ignored.
As a result of the City Council's actions regarding the staff report, two members of the finance committee resigned. The current City Council treated the committee's study the same way it treated the original Saratoga Tree Committee and its findings!
Based on the above information, I have several questions:
* How can Saratoga justify paying our city staff so well if, as our council states, we're financially strapped?
* Why were no actions taken?
* Why were the studies performed if the council wasn't going to act on the recommendations?
* Why were both studies "buried?"
* How can our councilmembers claim to be fiscally responsible?
I recommend that Saratoga's voters read the details of these studies and all other financial reports before they vote for City Council members on Nov. 5. It will be apparent that there are several examples of our City Council's fiscal irresponsibility.
Phillip Olsen lives on Saratoga Glen Place.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 9, 1996.
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