A Times Editorial

Oldsmar official's call for benefits is wrong

Representing the people as an elected official is a tough job in today's political environment. "The people" pay little or no attention most of the time (though they will get very demanding and even nasty when an issue of personal concern arises) and they seem to assume that all public officials are corrupt or bunglers or both.

Those who understand the difficulty of being an office holder usually don't have a big problem if elected officials are paid a small amount to help with the sometimes unexpected costs of being in office -- the meals that must be bought, the gas that is used traveling to functions, the higher phone bills.

But especially when the office requires only part-time hours, there is an understanding that the payment is not supposed to be a salary for a job, but merely token remuneration. The people, and conscientious office holders, too, believe that the primary reward is the honor of serving in office.

Oldsmar City Council member Marcelo Caruso seems to have a different view of his role and the rewards it brings.

Caruso, who was elected last March, not only complains about the low salary Oldsmar's part-time council members are paid -- $400 a month -- but he wants benefits, too. And he wants them right now.

"I see myself going on a lot of trips to lobby for this city to bring money, to bring many good things for this city and I don't see us with any benefits," Caruso said at a council meeting last week. "If you want to attract good people to work for this council and work for the people, you have to be generous. I think this is . . . nothing."

The council's discussion last week grew out of Caruso's monthslong effort to get the city to pay for health insurance for the five elected council members. Caruso owns his own small business and must purchase his own health insurance. He wants the city to pay for it as a benefit -- a benefit that would cost an estimated $200 per month per council member.

Though Mayor Jerry Beverland said he has no problem with Caruso's idea, two other council members, David Tilki and Brian Michaels, were offended. "I think it's wrong. I think it's self-serving. I think it's wrong for us to have the citizens of Oldsmar pay for our health care," Michaels said.

Tilki wondered how the new benefit could be made equitable if some council members wanted it and others wanted to keep the insurance coverage they have through their regular jobs. A suggestion was made that those who didn't want the coverage could be paid an extra $200 a month. That worried Tilki even more, because the Oldsmar City Charter, which is like a constitution that sets forth how the city will do its business, doesn't allow sitting council members to increase their own salary.

"Anything we do that puts $200 cash in any one of our pockets and anyone here who votes an affirmative for that in my opinion is violating our own City Charter because that's a raise," Tilki said. "Two hundred dollars in my pocket is a raise."

When the city attorney wondered aloud whether the $200 would be taxable income, the council decided to postpone a decision until it knew more.

Council members ought to do more than that. They ought to kill this idea.

Forcing the taxpayers to pay for health insurance coverage for elected officials is a long, long leap from providing a token salary to cover an official's expenses. And with the increases occurring in health care coverage today, it is easy to see how the cost of coverage for health insurance could soon exceed the $400 per month in salary the council members receive.

Furthermore, adding a lucrative new benefit to council members' compensation package and making it effective for those who approved the benefit is nothing less than an end run around the charter. If council members believe that Oldsmar City Council members need and deserve more money to cover their legitimate, service-related expenses, they should consider approving a salary increase for future councils.

If Caruso wants a real salary and benefits package, he should turn to the job market for that. The job he was elected to do is about public service, not compensation.

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