Keep big pay in Provo
Published: May 18, 2012 01:01AM
Updated: May 18, 2012 11:54AM
Last month, the Provo
Municipal Council eliminated the requirement that city department heads reside
within the city (“Provo drops residency requirements for department heads,”
Tribune, April 3). Salt Lake Tribune
According to the Utah’s
Right to Know website, ( Salaries) 12 Provo city employees make more than $150,000
annually; another 100 make more than $100,000.
Requiring that city
employees, especially high-paid employees, live in the town where tax dollars
pay their salaries accomplishes several purposes: increasing the city’s number
of families, having employees with a vested interest in the city and increasing
revenue through property and sales taxes.
Provo has a large number of
single-adult student residents, a large number of single-parent families and
many residents whose second language is English. Thirty-one percent of Provo’s
residents are below the poverty line. US Census Bureau quick facts
Consequently, many
families, including city employees, prefer to raise their children in
communities with less of a college town environment, a smaller urban
population, fewer poverty issues and schools with fewer inner city challenges.
But Provo needs the money,
stability and family life of its best-paid employees. In fact, the quality of
life in all cities would be better if all municipal employees lived in the
cities where they work.
Peggy Burdett
Orem
No comments:
Post a Comment