Conroe City Council Inherits Challenges Requiring Difficult Decisions
November 23, 2024 | Media Inquiries: press@mctxgop.org
by Jon Bouché, Montgomery County Republican Party Vice Chairman
Over the last few weeks, I have been receiving a lot of inquiries regarding the Conroe City Council’s recent actions in giving sizable raises to the City Administrator and two key employees in his department.
As I began to look into this, a myriad of other issues were also presented to me which are indirectly related to the salary dispute.
A few of these issues are:
The overall financial state of the City of Conroe
Police officer pay and payroll in general
Infrastructure needs
All of the above topics are certainly worth discussing in detail, but for the purpose of this piece, I will focus only on the most common complaint that I have received which can be expressed as, “Those three raises given by the new board are ridiculous and unjustified.”
I will begin by stating that comparing government jobs and private sector jobs is challenging because they serve fundamentally different purposes, operate under distinct conditions, and have unique priorities. Here are some things to consider:
1. Mission and Objectives
Government Jobs: Focus on serving the public, ensuring social welfare, and implementing policies. They are not profit-driven, but rather the emphasis is on (or should be on) public service and accountability.
Private Sector Jobs: These are profit-driven and compete in the market to maximize shareholder value. The aim is to be profitable and efficient.
2. Job Security
Government Jobs: Typically offer a higher level of job security due to civil service protections. Because they are not profit-driven, they are less susceptible to performance-based layoffs.
Private Sector Jobs: Tend to have more job volatility due to market-driven decisions, competition, and economic fluctuations.
3. Compensation Structures
Government Jobs: Offer stable salaries. Benefits (like pensions and healthcare) and pay scales are most often based on tenure and position rather than performance.
Private Sector Jobs: Compensation is often performance-based, with potential for bonuses, stock options, and higher earning potential, but fewer long-term guarantees and stability.
4. Flexibility and Innovation
Government Jobs: Can be more rigid due to bureaucratic processes, regulatory constraints, and accountability to taxpayers.
Private Sector Jobs: Often encourage flexibility, innovation, and rapid adaptation.
With all that being said, when you consider that the governor of the great state of Texas only makes $153,570 and the President of the United States makes $400,000, it strikes most people as outrageous that local government officials make more than the governor and as much or more than the President in some cases.
While it is true that private sector jobs have more competition, this most certainly does not mean that there isn’t competition for talent in government jobs. Talented people want to go where they can make the most money and cities are willing to pay for expertise and experience. Because of this, high salaries are often seen when there is a need for a specific skill set in the government sector.
The City of Conroe has a population of approximately 108,000 and the City Manager of Conroe is making $365,000/year. Now, compare that to the City of Mesquite with a population of 147,000 where, according to govsalaries.com, the City Manager makes $351,864/year or perhaps the city of Waco with a similar population where their City Manager is making over $447,527/year. Yes, it is outrageous, but what is the solution?
Should local governments engage in wage fixing as some have suggested where jobs are paid based on a fixed scale? That solution may make the critics happy, but it also might be the first step on the road to an authoritarian situation where growth, innovation, and hard work would be discouraged since everyone’s salary would be similar and capped. Do we really want that?
In the final analysis, voters should elect people who will be fiscally responsible and will seek to find the most efficient and cost-effective ways to run the local government. If voters don’t feel like their elected officials are meeting their expectations, they can certainly express their displeasure at the ballot box.
To be fair, the Conroe City Council members who were recently elected have some serious challenges ahead of them. The lack of long-term planning and a string of bad decisions over the last decade or so has really put the current board in a difficult situation.
Consider that the current board is now charged with rethinking and restructuring just about everything to make the city government leaner and more efficient. At the same time, they are dealing with legal issues as well as failing infrastructure and fiscal challenges that they inherited for this growing city. These issues also must be factored into the evaluation of salary and personnel decisions made by the Council. It is encouraging to me that they are not shying away from the challenges.
I am praying for them and will certainly support them in any way that I can, which includes holding them accountable for questionable decisions. But I vehemently reject the fallacy that just because this board has made some tough decisions, the previous board would have done better. The state of the city would clearly and definitively refute that assertion.
We will continue to follow the progress of the new Conroe City Council and encourage residents to do the same by attending Council meetings or watching the meetings on livestream. The Conroe City Council meets on the second Thursday of each month at 6pm and the fourth Thursday of each month at 9:30am.
Livestream and meetings archive
If you are concerned about salary increases, human resources, or policy decisions made by the Council, we encourage you to contact your Council member directly or fill out the Speaker Request form to make a public comment at an upcoming meeting.
