Fayette | News

County chief snags 15% raise to $128K

Tue, 11/07/2006 - 4:11pm
By: John Thompson

Fayette County Administrator Chris Venice’s paycheck got a little heftier last week, thanks to the Fayette County Commission.

The commissioners — two of them lame ducks not returning in January — approved a new contract with Venice that will pay her $128,800 a year, a 15 percent increase over her current contract.

The contract also allows no cap on annual leave, which places Venice in a unique position in the county’s employment force. The county places a cap on annual leave for all its other employees and they must “use it or lose it,” said executive assistant Carol Chandler.

The issue of accruing the annual leave was the subject of vigorous debate during last Wednesday’s meeting as Commissioner Herb Frady argued that Venice should fall under the same policy as the rest of the county’s employees.

“I think she needs to take the leave and not get burned out,” he said.

But Commission Chairman Greg Dunn argued that Venice was in a unique position, since she didn’t have an assistant, and was the only person who could do her job.

“By not having an assistant, we’ve saved the county thousands of dollars and there are critical times, such as budget that we need her to be here,” Dunn said.

Commissioners Pfeifer and Wells agreed with Dunn and voted to approve the contract, while Frady and Commissioner Robert Horgan voted against it because of the leave issue.

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Must be nice
Submitted by IMNSHO on Wed, 11/08/2006 - 12:59am.

A 15% raise AND unlimited vacation time. Must be nice. The idea that "she is the only person who could do her job" should mean that she DOES have the same vacation time limits as every other county employee. That is how it works in other departments in the county.

So can the rest of the county employees look forward to a nice hefty raise, too? Because, right now, you've got new hires making almost as much as people who've been there for 5 or 10+ years, in more than one department.

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double standard
Submitted by Vernon on Tue, 11/07/2006 - 4:26pm.

Employees of the county (lower on the totem pole) are lucky to get a 2.75% raise. A 3% is considered a good raise for employees that receive good evaulations. No wonder, looks like all the money goes to the top employees in the county and department heads. The new way of giving raises is the commissioners give a block amount to the department heads and they divide it up as they see fit, usually more going to them and their favorites, regardless of performance. Fayette Co. Commissioners waste more money than not, the public just never finds out about it.

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Double Standard
Submitted by ars100 on Wed, 11/08/2006 - 12:08pm.

It's amazing how our county administrator gets a 15% pay increase and no cap on annual leave, yet as a county employee, I and all other county employees get our annual leave capped and get minescule raises. I had an excellent evaluation and got 2%. When I asked about the 2%, I was told that the department only had so much money and it had to be evenly delt out among the employees. Annual leave for regular county employees is a joke. I am annually threathend with losing my annual leave if I don't take it. What ever annual leave that I earn in one year, must be taken the next year. How is that fair.

At least Dunn and Wells are leaving. Chalk one small one for the county employees. Maybe the new commissioners will resotre some of the county benefits that were taken away by the employee hating commissioners (Dunn and Wells).

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Exception to county rule on leave
Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Wed, 11/08/2006 - 5:17pm.

This is a stupid thing to do. If the person threatened to leave otherwise, then they should have been told to go. The amount of salary is one thing, but common rules should apply. This sort of logic is a third cousin to the CEOs now getting up to scores of millions of dollars for failing! It is an obvious lack of good managenent on the part of those hiring and approving such nonsense. Some cops in Atlanta used to draw a full salary in addition to their retirement for up to three years for vacation they supposedly never took. If when they leave you want to give them a hundred grand, do it, but do it in the open, by vote.

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