 |
|
|
.:. NEWS .:.
|
Splitting the loot Panama City style
posted: Saturday, February 7 2009
By Burnie Thompson
Between 2003 and 2006, Panama City Manager Ken Hammons and the city commissioners split more than a million dollars of taxpayer money, fees and fines with their employees. Think of it as a bonus. They call it "gain sharing."
City officials say gain sharing provides an incentive for employees to respect taxpayer money. It helps counter the "use it or lose it" spendthrift mentality that afflicts government agencies, they say.
One of my show's sponsors takes 25 percent of its profits every quarter and splits it evenly with each employee. Everyone feels invested in the company and is inspired to do a good job.
But there is a big difference between profit sharing in private industry and gain sharing in government. Companies have to earn your money while government simply confiscates it. Either way, the goal is to increase the pot of money.
Here's how gain sharing works: If there is money left over at the end of the year, Hammons recommends to the City Commission that a portion of it be shared among more than 500 employees. In 2006, that totaled $363,289 - or $550 each.
In 2007, there were no gains to be shared, no loot to be plundered. Alas, they had to go without the "kiss-the-ring" check, as one city employee called it. He said Hammons personally handed the checks out, reminding people to thank the commissioners.
But the money doesn't come from the commissioners. It comes from Panama City residents who were overtaxed, overfined, and overcharged. Even in the best of economic times, the government shouldn't overcharge its citizens. At the very least, it shouldn't profit at the expense of services.
Some residents don't understand how city officials can overlook so many requests while writing checks to themselves and their employees. For example, trolley riders have asked for shelters, and Glenwood residents have requested a gymnasium. City bigwigs recently even considered a bed tax to raise money for parks, the Visual Arts Center and the Marina.
Gain sharing raises serious questions about priorities and ethics. Where should leftover money go, and who should decide? Why didn't anyone know about this perverse city incentive program until now?
At least other local governments include bonuses in their budgets - it's fully transparent. Panama City does not include gain sharing in its budget. Instead, city officials divide the cash willy nilly depending on how much coffers runneth over.
So how did the press miss this story since 1995, the year the program began? The program was referred to as a "gain share" worth a few hundred dollars during one public meeting per year. For example, in 2006, the commissioners approved a "$550 gain share." Had it been called "$363,289 gain share" eyebrows would have been raised.
The most disturbing part about gain sharing is that the pot of money is partially derived from code enforcement fines. The very people who levy these expenses profit from them. With a set-up like that, is it any wonder why Code Enforcement would recommend fines of more than $200,000 for cutting down trees on private property, as it did against two families in 2006?
Mayor Scott Clemons says not to worry about the risk of abuse because "any citation would have to go through multiple levels of review, and then a judicial hearing." But we recently learned that both hearing officers were illegally placed - one wasn't reappointed and the other wasn't appointed at all in a public meeting. Many judgments may be nullified because of an ongoing lawsuit against the city.
None of this concerns the mayor, the city manager or the City Commission. They say bonuses will be issued again this year if there is money leftover.
Let's remember that the next time we pay our taxes, fines and fees.
Above was printed in the Panama City News Herald - February 07, 2009
|
|
|
