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In Dismissing Problem Employees, County Opens Your Wallet Wide

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2007

When bemoaning the toll of state-mandated budget cuts on Hillsborough government, county administrator Pat Bean urged citizens to 'look under the hood' and tell Tallahassee to back off.

As people who read this page know, we've looked under the hood and are appalled by the overly generous pay and benefit packages given local government workers - packages made possible because soaring property values grew tax revenues by giant steps every year.

Yet members of our county commission - including those who claim to be fiscal conservatives - fail to grasp that taxpayers can no longer afford government's largesse, especially the enormous severance packages given people who are fired or encouraged to leave.

Led by Commissioners Ken Hagan and Brian Blair, this board is handing out tens of thousands of dollars to problem employees dismissed for poor performance.

Most recently, they couldn't decide whether to reward the person with three months' pay or six months' pay.

Hagan and Blair argued that Greg Cox did a great job nine years ago when he became executive director of the Public Transportation Commission, which licenses taxis, limos, tow trucks and private ambulances. No matter that a recent audit found serious problems with the agency's contingency fund, workplace management and customer relations.

But Blair coaches baseball with Cox. Hagan knows him personally, too. And it appears friendship trumps fiscal restraint with these so-called conservative commissioners.

Hagan agreed the allegations against Cox were serious; still he argued that Cox should receive six months' severance. 'I don't understand why Mr. Cox would only get three months,' he said. 'It just doesn't seem right to me.'

He cited the case of Stan Motley, a former parks director who left the county after two years because of disagreements with Bean. Motley received six months' severance, or $81,840.

There's more.

Daryl Smith, a former solid waste director who left after an administration shuffle, received nine months' pay, or $125,900.

Dan Kleman, Bean's predecessor as administrator, received a year's pay, or $167,000.

Jadell Kerr, who recently resigned as director of the wetlands division after blasting commissioners, received $38,000.

And Ray Allen, an assistant county attorney who angered then-commissioner Ronda Storms for his licensure work on a Valrico bikini bar, was paid $40,000.

County commissioners are not alone in awarding government severance packages unlike anything seen in the private sector.

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson last year gave $24,000 in severance to an eight-month employee who wasn't working out. 'I don't know what the big deal is,' Johnson said at the time.

And a recent state audit of the Hillsborough County Expressway Authority found it paid former director Pat McHue $231,000 after firing him a couple of years ago. Auditors said the payment 'appears excessive.'

The payment not only appears excessive. It is excessive.

Thankfully, when the expressway authority fired McHue's successor a couple of months back, it denied his request for a severance package. 'I'm just personally against them,' then-board chair Tom Gibbs said at the time.

Yet the county attorney's office, under the direction of Renee Lee, appears to be a big fan of severance packages, though she prefers to call them something else.

'This wasn't a severance package,' Lee said in recommending Allen's award. 'It was payment for release and settlement of claims.'

In other words, the county attorney justifies walk-away money if the poor performers promise not to sue the county or ever talk about their experience.

But as Commissioner Kevin White so aptly argued, the county has the upper hand in these cases. Let these poor performers sue. If Lee is so afraid to defend taxpayers' interests in court, Hillsborough should find a county attorney who will.

Local governments should create clear, conservative policies that prevent fistfuls of money from going to fired employees.

And as long as taxpayers find such expenditures under the hood, Bean will lack credibility in her fight against budget cuts.

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