$10,000 worth of ego stroking

One point of today's news story about the saga between the Brick Municipal Utilities Authority and executive director Kevin Donald that jumped out was the $10,000-a-year raise (to $140,000) the commissioners gave him in 2004. The authority's former chairman, Daniel F. Newman Sr. -- whose, business, by the way, was unbilled for sewer service for nearly 20 years, Oops! -- said he fought to get Donald the raise because he was concerned that Donald did not feel appreciated in his position and that he felt bad that longtime authority employees couldn't retire early.
Read it and weep at http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060626/NEWS/606260362

It's that kind of thinking -- from municipality to county to state -- that put us in the financial hole we're in. So willing to yank more money out of the taxpayers' wallets. If Donald needed to feel appreciated, they could have taken him out to dinner or given him a nice Hallmark card. Giving him a taxpayer funded ego boost was reprehensible.