Comments on: Vacation buybacks! Car allowances! Management Leave! Horrors!

By: Becks

Becks — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:44:22 +0000

I didn’t understand the overly critical nature of the articles either. As someone who’s worked in management/HR roles at several organizations of varying sizes, I can attest that mistakes are common when there aren’t clearly established practices. I wasn’t surprised by this report, and the problems don’t seem that huge. The only complaint I have is that this report wasn’t conducted sooner (thanks to Ruby for making this a priority immediately). Now that the report’s out, it shouldn’t be too difficult to fix the problems.

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:27:32 +0000

Automobile allowances are clearly defined compensatory awards, and they are budgeted for. Ruby said, in her response to the City Administrator’s letter, that “we did identify weaknesses in the monitoring and oversight of these generous allowances.” So, again, the issue isn’t that the payment are necessarily bad, but that they should be monitored better. On this theme, repeated in almost every section of the report, I can’t disagree with Ruby. But exposing a need to institute better monitoring practices is hardly what most people seem to be taking from the report.

By: MJH

MJH — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:55:35 +0000

I believe the car allowance is a line item in the budget. Is that correct?