The Candidate

Jeffrey Evans is a 50 year resident of Pitkin County who previously ran for county commissioner in 1978 (he thinks, maybe). Although active in local politics for much of the first 30 years, Jeffrey is coming off a twenty year pause. He met a nice lady twenty (+) years ago who seems to like him most of the time, and loves to travel too, so recent decades have been devoted to visiting some of the world’s most spectacular places.

Here is a copy of the candidate’s announcement as it appeared in local newspapers:

April 7, 2020

When I decided to run for Pitkin County commissioner in District Five — about six weeks ago — I thought county voters might really enjoy having one elected official who is an unabashed advocate for fixing the Entrance to Aspen.

In our strange new world, a huge traffic jam would be cause for celebration.

The central issue for government at all levels will now be about maintaining essential services with drastically reduced revenues. The current county commission has the most difficult and thankless task imaginable, defining “essential” and deciding which services and personnel we can do without.

The commissioners were probably fairly comfortable with the size, scope, and cost of county government in 2019. I will be very interested in seeing how they set new priorities, and do not plan to do much armchair quarterbacking while they struggle with those decisions.

2019 will be a base year for all sorts of comparisons, and it will be some months before we know the full percentage drop in total revenue for 2020. Whatever that number turns out to be, I intend to reduce my own salary by the same amount in 2021, should I be elected. Adjustments will be made each subsequent year for my time in office.

It won’t add that much to the general fund, but there is going to be a lot of sacrifice to be shared. It should start at the top.

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May 15, 2020

The choice of a potential salary reduction as Point 1 in my campaign was simple. We are not far from the day when it would be polite to poll county employees on a similar option. Would an across-the-board salary cut be preferable if it could reduce the need for complete layoffs?

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October 15, 2020

When I suggested returning a portion of my salary to the General Fund it was for the purpose of getting everyone to discuss the option of an across-the-board salary reduction instead of layoffs or furloughs. In the six months since I brought it up, not a single person has mentioned it to me, and there is no indication it is something the county is considering.

It is not my intention to make meaningless gestures. However, before taking my offer off the table, I will make one more effort to explain the advantages of a universal salary reduction in hard times.

The county spends a bit less than $26,000,000 annually for salaries, overtime and bonuses. The additional cost of employing people (insurance, etc.) costs another $14,000,000 per year. Although some of those additional cost factors are a percentage of the salary being paid, a conservative approach would suggest that an across the board salary reduction of 10% would reduce the county payroll by about $3,000,000.

In order to achieve the same savings with layoffs and furloughs, and assuming you started at the bottom of the pay scale, it would require taking the full salary of nearly one hundred people. Everyone from a Senior Administrative Assistant making $10,391 to a Library Assistant making $48,764 would need to be laid off or furloughed to reach the same savings of $3 million.

Nobody would like a 10% reduction in salary, and it would represent a hardship. But most would prefer that to a complete loss of income, and the county needs to maintain services.

I made other mistakes in my quickie proposal, for example using 2019 as the base year. That year was very strong, and the county had no expectation that 2020 was going to match the previous year’s revenues. A better approach would be to take the 2020 budget – which was the expectation of revenue for the year – compared to actual revenue. However, actual revenue isn’t known for some time after the end of the year, and the audited reconciliation would not be available until September of 2021.

So, to restate the offer to reduce my own salary: In the event the county institutes an across the board salary reduction, whatever that percentage turns out to be, I will take an additional 5% from my salary. The original idea still holds true – there may be a lot of sacrifice to be shared, and it should start at the top.

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