Pay elected officials based on performance

I would like to see the current process of awarding salary increases to our county elected officials changed to a more performance-based process versus having friends or acquaintances of the elected officials appointed to a “board” and then this board deciding how much of a raise they should give their friends.

I would like to see each elected official have a list of expectations for their elected position, along with performance targets, and their performance to these targets be used to determine whether a salary increase was justified and how large it should be. The elected officials performing at a higher level would get more and those not performing well may not get a raise.

Pay for performance is not a new concept in the private sector. Maybe it's time to transfer this approach to our elected officials. Government's performance should be measured and visible to all citizens. This information would be very useful when developing salary increases and also during election time.

Lonnie Bazal

Elberon