County Supes on hot seat over massive employee giveaway

Politicians, business, and community groups increasingly are expressing shock and disbelief that the county Supervisors redirected federal COVID relief funds as a bonus to their remote-working county employees, some of whom already make more than $200k per year. The Silicon Valley Taxpayers' Association (SVTA) is the latest group to voice opposition. Pete Constant, former SJ Councilmember, vice president of the SVTA, and Public Policy professor at William Jessup University provides the group's perspective below.

Councilmembers Mahan and Davis are right on the money (pun intended) in their comments. The ARP monies delivered to state and local governments to reduce the extreme hardship many people and businesses are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the most part, public employees and elected officeholders were insulated from the dire fiscal impacts of the pandemic. While millions of people in California faced fiscal crises, government employees’ paychecks continued uninterrupted.

Local governments should have used these funds to respond to the pandemic and its negative economic impacts; restore cuts in public services caused by pandemic-induced revenue losses and avoid additional cuts; and invest in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure as the plan intended.

By all means, frontline, essential workers should be compensated for their work and the related hazards they face, that should be address through the bargaining process as San Jose did. To pay all county employees bonuses with these funds, even those who never faced the front lines of the pandemic, is simply improper.