We're cheering for today's war heroes - the brave healthcare workers who selflessly put their lives on the line to save the rest of us. We're grateful for law enforcement and our military for keeping us safe in good times and in bad. And in these times of uncertainty and isolation, we appreciate the many acts of kindness we see in our neighborhoods and all over the place by regular people who want to do something, anything to help.
All of us sacrifice during hard times. Business owners try to stay open and keep employees on the payroll, reluctantly cutting back hours of operation while accommodating customers sheltering in place, self-quarantining, or practicing social distancing.
Their employees work from home (if they can), do what they must to keep their jobs, accept truncated schedules and reduced pay, or find themselves terminated and pleading with bank officers and landlords to suspend monthly obligations or accept partial payment.
When approximately one-fourth of the state's private sector workforce is potentially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, it might be a good time for administrators and workers in the public sector to acknowledge how fortunate they are to still have full-time jobs and steady income. Their well hasn't dried up.
In Madison County, however, four of 26 department heads have concluded that this is the perfect time to insult taxpayers - some of whom may be under financial duress - and demand extra compensation for some "essential" workers performing their usual functions.
To the tune of $400,000 in extra liability for a two-week pay period – that's what is being requested in comp time and extra pay by four county departments to incentivize some public employees to come to work in person and do the jobs that hard-pressed citizens might be happy to do at the current pay rates. For department heads to defend the extra comp time as "non-monetary" misses a couple of points obvious to anyone working in the private sector: County government workers have not been furloughed, and many "non-essential" workers ordered to stay at home (through no fault of their own) are not performing any services.
So, if they want more for essential workers, are departments willing to cut from non-essential workers?
The supervisors seeking to exploit the present crisis for the benefit of their subordinates and at the expense of struggling taxpayers are the heads of the Sheriff’s Department, the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Auditor’s Office, and the Recorder’s Office.
Don't misunderstand - we are grateful for our diligent Madison County public servants who keep things running smoothly. But at this time, perhaps the patriotic thing to do would be to not ask for more from those who are trying to figure out how to do with less.