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Most of us in the working world have never had jobs where you can get a bonus. The bonus is that we get to come back to work on Monday.
It's bad enough to see some CEO going back for a second pass at the pay window. But at least they run private companies, and you can choose to give your money to those companies or not. Taxpayers don't get that choice.
And that's why the bonuses for Curt Walton and Harry Jones give off the lovely aroma of a dead fish somebody left on the back porch.
Walton is the Charlotte city manager; Jones is the Mecklenburg County manager. Both of them make more than $200,000 a year in salary. That's fair pay. Even though they report to elected officials, Walton and Jones are in charge of the day-to-day operations of the city and county. They're two of the most powerful people in local government.
In a normal year, they'd earn - and deserve - a bonus.
This hasn't been a normal year.
Let's look at the city first. Part of why Walton's bonus looks bad is the timing; his $16,000 bonus was for work he did in the 2008-09 budget year, which ended June 30. It just took City Council from then until this week to OK the bonus. (The council also decides on bonuses for City Attorney Mac McCarley.)
The thing is, Walton's bonus depends on City Council, but other city employees' bonuses depend on Walton. And for this budget year, Walton has eliminated nearly all bonuses - as well as cutting raises and freezing job openings. That policy, of course, doesn't apply to him - if the mayor and City Council want to throw him a little extra, that's up to them.
The upshot is, Walton accepted the last stack of bonus money coming out the door, after he had closed the door on everybody else.
Now to the county. Jones got a bonus of $38,400 this year. The county tries to smudge the wording - they call it "pay at risk" money - but it's optional dollars that the county can pay in various amounts. In the real world, that's a bonus.
Two problems. One, other county employees didn't get bonuses at all. And two, the way the county has handled the financial mess at the Department of Social Services, I'm not sure Jones should get an extra dime. (I've got some skin in the game when it comes to DSS, and I'll be writing more about that later.)
There's a larger issue that applies to both men: Even though they're unelected officials, their jobs are political in nature. And politically, both of them should be smarter than to take a bonus right now.
We're in the midst of an economic downturn that is crushing a lot of people. I don't think most folks begrudge the salaries for those at the top. It's all the extras - the stock options, the golden parachutes, the bonuses, all paid out when lots of people are desperate for just a regular paycheck.
There are lots of jobs where the bonus is almost a commission - you take a small salary and expect a big chunk on the back end. These managers' jobs aren't like that. Their up-front salaries are more than decent. Their bonuses ought to kick in only in a climate where people below them have a chance to prosper.
Until that happens, how about this for a bonus: They get to come back to work on Monday.
