Public’s right to know outweighs city’s argument against
releasing public employees salaries
We were disappointed when reporter Tony Burchyns’ informal request for Morgan Hill’s government salary information – names, titles and wages for about 40 top-management employees – was denied two weeks ago.
City officials denied the Times request citing a 2004 ruling by a San Mateo County Superior Court judge. In that nefarious decision against the public’s right to know the judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing several cities from releasing the salary information to the Palo Alto Daily News. The newspaper, backed by many First Amendment supporters, appealed the decision.
At the heart of the San Mateo decision was whether labor unions should exert undue influence on city governments to keep the information confidential even though they have released salary information to the news media for years.
Morgan Hill taxpayers, whose tax dollars pay for those salaries, are being denied the information.
The Times has now filed a California Public Records Act request for the information. We hope the city reconsiders and sides with First Amendment supporters who believe there is no privacy interest in the information and that salaries paid by taxpayers are public, not private.
The city should consider other municipalities as examples of government transparency. For instance, San Jose releases the salaries of its top management employees. Our neighbor to the north and other Bay Area cities have adopted policies that allow the release of the information. In Gilroy, where City Hall balanced the public’s right to know against employees’ right to privacy, salary data was released, but in a form that prevented it from being tied to any individual employee.
If federal and state salaries are public, then municipal salaries should also be public. The city has already released the salary of City Manager Ed Tewes, who earns an annual salary of $159,300, plus other compensation and health benefits. The Times reported his salary in a July 22, 2006 story. The Times has also received salary information on the chief of police. On Oct. 9, 2004 the Times published Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming’s $135,000 annual salary soon after he was hired.
The Times is seeking the information during a budget year when there is no deficit and when Tewes has presented a budget document with a $570,000 surplus for fiscal year 2007-08. But due to future uncertain economic conditions, it’s imperative Morgan Hill voters receive the salary data to determine if future increases are prudent.
It’s also wrong for the city to deny the salaries based on the San Mateo County Superior Court decision, when a precedent on the issue of public salaries has not been set by an appeals court.
Among the 40 top-level executives who received the 3 percent salary increases effective July 1 are 10 executive management employees such as the directors of business assistance and housing services, community development, finance, public works, human resources, recreation and community services as well as the assistant to the city manager and council services and records manager.
The public has a right to know the salaries of these executives who make critical decisions for the city on a daily basis. The public also has a right to the data because many will receive salary increases based on job performance, which is directly tied to public service.
We were also appalled by a lack of response from Morgan Hill Human Resources Director Mary Kaye Fisher to our reporter’s inquiries and repeated phone calls for clear explanations on the salary proposal.
The Times’ salary information request is not based on whether the city is being fiscally prudent in giving the wage increments or whether these top executives are doing their jobs effectively and deserve the increases. The newspaper’s desire for the information is to defend the public’s right to know.
