April 11, 2009 08:20 PM UTC

Jeffco's budget

• 0 Comments
• by: convinceme

Giving credit where credit is due, I think we all should compliment the county government for having such a clear view of the budget posted online.  However, one thing causes me to have questions.  The Board of Commissioners’ entry shows a budget of $516,662, if I read it right.  $175,000 was budgeted for one time expenses, possibly defense in the ongoing lawsuits, I guess, but $341,662 for operations.  I guess that includes commissioner salaries.  Now, the question; What is a commissioner paid?  Over a third of a million dollars seems a lot to me to run that department, especially since there is also a County Administrator, another budget.  Can anyone point me to that information?  

Related to that is another question I have never seen addressed.  What exactly do commissioners do five days a week?  Being full time people, what are their duties?  Where can I find a report that states their goals and objectives and their percent of completion?  I am accustomed to that transparency in business so I expect that from them also.  Is there a source?

Finally, why do commissioners have a full time job running the county if we also pay an administrator for that?  Could we save some money here?