The current pay structure was conceived in 1991. The current pay structure was set without adjustments for population or inflation.

I know of very few people still using a vehicle from 1991 and no one uses a computer or a telephone from 1991. Why should government be forced to do the same?

Placer County’s Budget has grown 340% since 1992. This is mostly due to growth and unfunded state mandates.

However, the current supervisor salary would qualify most in California for an Obamacare subsidy and an EBT card!

It’s absurd.

The proposed measure will put in place a formula for the supervisor’s pay that can not be changed without another vote of the people. The concept being floated that the supervisors would get “get to set their own pay” is a deceitful lie.

Some of the opponents of the measure are certainly driven by their personal hatred of the supervisors. Reading the ballot argument only solidifies that notion. The opponents seem to be obsessed with the notion that the job of being a supervisor is part-time. The argument as written seeks to diminish what the supervisors do so as to buttress the hollow argument against Measure B.

Two of the primary arguments against Measure B are also personal in nature – further undermining the arguments themselves.

That gets us to the governance of the county. Despite the state stealing money from counties to fund welfare programs – Placer County has slashed its’ long term debt by a staggering $160 million.

The County budget has a 6% reserve. During the Great Recession, you would be hard-pressed to find ANY County in California that has pulled off both of the above. Most Counties have reserves of less than 4% because many are unwilling to make the tough decisions. (like telling the public employee unions no, or not this much)

Measure B is less than .1% of the county budget. It amounts to $.60 a person in the County, yet some are willing to die on a hill over this.

You may be curious as to how the county was able to achieve these reserves and debt reduction? They changed up the public employee pension system and got massive concessions including requiring employees to pay the full cost of their part of the insurance benefits!

Measure B imposes the same benefits system onto the supervisors.

Perhaps this is why the Independent Charter Review Committee recommended a change to the compensation for Placer County Supervisors.

The opponents of the measure have staked their opposition on the notion that the supervisors work a part time job. They can’t make that case, in their own personal animus against the sitting supervisors, they’ve boxed themsevles in.

In my opinion – the absurdity of the opposition is underscored by the following: Not only has Placer county been well-run fiscally on all accounts, one of the staples of the ballot argument against was a personal attack along the lines of  “if the pay was so lousy, then why are they running for the job?”.

Jim Holmes and Robert Weygant drew little more than token opposition in their last campaign. Jack Duran (a democrat, no less) was re-elected in a majority Republican district by acclamation because none of the top recruits could afford to file because the time commitment was so onerous that the pay would not come close to making them whole for the loss of time. (so much for the part-time job argument, so much for the argument that the lousy pay is not a factor in the decision of would be candidates)

Unwittingly, the opponents made one of the strongest cases for Measure B. Their quip about the lousy pay puts Miracle Grow on the main reason why there have been few truly contested supervisor elections in the last decade. They also undermine their own argument about term limits – the terrible compensation has indeed helped three of the current supervisors stay in office with little or no opposition in their last election. Yet – the opponents of Measure B are arguing for the status quo!

Jack Duran is a trial lawyer with assets. Robert Weygant is retired with assets. Jim Holmes is retired with assets. Jennifer Montgomery is reputed to be a hippee living on a commune, leaving Kirk Uhler as the only supervisor with a “normal” working-class life.

This is wrong. This needs to change. We need to remove the barrier to “real” working-age people to be able to serve Placer County.

The fundamentals are all there – Measure B is the right change at the right time for Placer County. No more uncontested supervisor elections, it is time to run ALL of Placer County like a business by voting Yes on Measure B.