The overwhelming majority of Wheeling city employees work hard and provide good services to our community. We doubt that many of the taxpayers they serve object to City Council's proposal to grant each worker a $400 "wage adjustment."
By rewarding city employees through a one-time payment, council members avoid the pitfall that all too many local and state governments fall into - of granting permanent pay increases when resources are plentiful. When that is done, government entities can find themselves having to make painful cutbacks when revenue lags, as may be the case for Wheeling during the next few years. The alternative to that is to increase taxes to cover ongoing expenses.
Still, council's plan raises questions. One involves its legality. Initially, the idea was to grant workers a "bonus." But state Managing Deputy Attorney General Silas Taylor has told our reporter that payment of bonuses to government employees, for work already done, is illegal. Now, of course, the term "bonus" has been abandoned in favor of "wage adjustment." We wonder whether a simple change in terminology will be enough to eliminate the issue of legality.
Another concern involves the pool of money to be used to pay the "wage adjustments." City Manager Robert Herron has said funds for the 407 payments of $400 each will come from $162,800 already in the municipal budget. That money was included to cover wages and salaries for 16 positions that are vacant now.
That may be a risky proposition - unless city officials have no plans to fill the 16 vacant positions.
But if they do not, the question of why money for them was included in the budget arises.
Council members may decide the 16 positions should be left vacant - not a bad idea, in view of the fact that Wheeling's population has decreased substantially during the past decade or so. If they do that, the $162,800 that then would be unneeded should be eliminated from the next city budget. That would give taxpayers a break - and they, too, richly deserve one.