First Posted: 3/20/2015
For three years, I have endeavored to get the Berger and Nixon administration to roll back the mayor’s salary to $320,000 per term. If not, let the taxpayers vote on it.
They refused.
Are you aware Mayor Berger made $446,000 in his previous four years? At the end of this four-year period his income will surge to $503,000, escalating $57,000? The term commencing 2017, Berger will receive $526,000, with No raises, an $80,000 increase in eight years, over a million dollars in two terms.
In Lima where the median income is $28,000 the mayor grosses nearly double the income of Findlay’s mayor. Interestingly, Findlay, a city with a population 2000 greater than Lima, median income of $42,900 pays its mayor merely $278,000 each term.
Nixon, with the aid of finance chair Tebben, enabled Berger to live lavishly with your tax dollars. Why? I believe Nixon anticipates succeeding Berger.
Jim Krumel, the editor of The Lima News, asked in his column: “Should an inexperienced mayor make the same amount it took a 28-year veteran to earn?” Tebben was asked about resetting the mayor’s pay scale, however his concern was that it presents, “complications.”
Berger stated he works 60 hours weekly and doesn’t have a secretary. That being said, why should taxpayers pay the mayor for secretarial labor? Lima has approximately 20 regular part-time employees who don’t work 30 hours weekly. Part-time employees have no health care or paid holidays. Contracting a part-time secretary would be a step toward rolling back the salary to $320,000!
The Berger Nixon money train rolls on and on!
— Tim Guthrie, Lima
