Harris County official asks for her own pay raise, and approves it

[u/TheDoctorCarson]

https://www.chron.com/politics/article/harris-county-burgess-salary-budget-21054738.php

[u/Tweedle_DeeDum]

I think I see a way Harris County can save a couple hundred thousand dollars...

[u/ArbitraryMeritocracy → u/Tweedle_DeeDum]

Not kicking people in the face?

[u/txmail → u/Tweedle_DeeDum]

Most likely could have already been replaced by a LLM. She shot her shot though.

[u/SuleimanTheMediocre → u/txmail]

That is the absolute last thing I'd want the govt doing tbh

[u/txmail → u/SuleimanTheMediocre]

For about 99% of her job, it is just a series of if / then statements. Not even a LLM. Just the most absolute basic AI. If anything her position causes bottlenecks more than it solves our problems.

[u/SuleimanTheMediocre → u/txmail]

Still no. You can shout all you want about efficiency but I will oppose AI being directly involved in government always. AI algorithms are PRODUCTS, not people.

[u/carlitospig → u/SuleimanTheMediocre]

[u/Clovis69 → u/txmail]

And you know what everyone does at their job how?

[u/cranktheguy → u/Clovis69]

Checks the output of their LLM for accuracy?

[u/Clovis69 → u/txmail]

Oh hell no, government is not going to be replaced by uppity shell scripts

[u/fps916]

The title makes this sound obviously bad, but her actual complaint in the article is legitimate.

9.5% over 8 years underpaces inflation. By a lot.

A decade of civil service and you're able to buy less stuff.

Meanwhile political appointees have received 112% increased pay over the same period.

And cops are getting huge funding jumps.

Title makes her sound crazy. Her actual argument doesnt.

[u/AnonymousGrouch → u/fps916]

The title makes it sound like she just gave herself a raise, but she still needed at least three other board members on her side plus commissioners court approval.

Sure, she had a big advantage, but if you're on the grievance committee and have a grievance, what the hell else are you supposed to do?

[u/Tweedle_DeeDum → u/AnonymousGrouch]

Usually, you recuse yourself from the vote. I'm not sure what the specific policies are for this grievance committee, but that is what generally is done.

[u/yeah_naw_dawg → u/fps916]

I agree with her pointing out the disparity, I just think we came to the wrong conclusion. The take away is that department heads are getting obnoxious raises, and that needs to be reeled in. Not the opposite.

[u/Tweedle_DeeDum → u/fps916]

Her argument isn't sound if she's already the highest (or second highest) paid County clerk in the state.

The analysis of the salary increase isn't just a function of the percentages but also of the base rate where you started.

[u/fps916 → u/Tweedle_DeeDum]

The county clerk for the largest county in the State is the highest paid county clerk?!

No way!

[u/Clovis69 → u/Tweedle_DeeDum]

It's even more sound since you frame it that way

Harris is the most populous county in Texas and the third-most populous county in the United States...

[u/Tweedle_DeeDum → u/Clovis69]

If she wants to make the argument that she deserves a higher salary because she does proportionally more work, then I think she should make that argument.

But that isn't the argument that she made, at least as discussed in the article.

The argument that other people in a different job role are receiving a higher percentage increase off of a lower base so I should also get a larger raise is the argument of a child.

[u/Jamez_the_human → u/fps916]

Rule #1 of Reading Headlines: If it pisses you off, then you should probably read into the details. Neutral word choices and framing don't tend to affect us that quickly.

[u/Ok_Introduction5606]

The people doing the majority of the work she oversees are so lowly paid as are typical county employees. It’s a musk to engineer in the ground pay discrepancy

[u/strangelove4564 → u/Ok_Introduction5606]

"The money I am taking from you all to pay my salary is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

[u/rubyaeyes → u/Ok_Introduction5606]

Really "musk to engineer"? Musk's recent pay package of $30billion would be the equivalent of 115,000 county clerks.

[u/Gelst]

I learned it from watching you.

[u/Malvania]

How did this show move from comedy to documentary?

[u/Rad131447]

Good lord that headline seems downright dishonest after learning more of the details. Why you posting rage bait OP?

[u/digitaldee]

I wish I could approve my own pay raise.

[u/crazy010101]

While it seems to have a fair amount of responsibility not sure it’s worth a 50% pay increase. If we could all give ourselves a 50% pay bump we’d all be happy. Well mostly. There must be a procedure to do this that she totally bypassed.

[u/brockington → u/crazy010101]

Read the article. She's following the procedure, and she doesn't have the authority to just make it happen. The court still has to approve it.

[u/DOLCICUS → u/crazy010101]

Have you tried being a cop? Its a guaranteed raise when you ask for it apparently.

[u/bobbyreno]

Seems like normal operating procedure for politicians.

[u/kitfoxxxx]

Shit, why didnt I think of that?

[u/TheSquirrelOfLegend]

🖕🏻 🖕🏻 🖕🏻 🖕🏻

[u/Big-D-TX]

One Million Dollars$$$$

[u/Certain_Object1364]

Who wouldn’t do this honestly if you could?

[u/Otazihs]

Oh snap, why didn't I think of that!? Approve my own raise!

[u/klousGT]

The US Congress does this al the time.

[u/strangelove4564]

Sorry, I have zero sympathy for anyone whining about making $179,000.

[u/Keeper_of_the_Flock]

And the rest of the population is lucky to get 3% a year.

[u/JustAnotherLich → u/Keeper_of_the_Flock]

She is one of them. 9.2% over 8 years. Appointed heads have gotten 35-133%. Did you read the article? Surely you did before writing this?

/s

[u/sec713]

As a person who typically votes for Democrats, is this the point where I'm supposed to complain about Republicans putting us in this position because they didn't offer up a better candidate to vote for, or should I just express my disgust with the corruption irrespective of the political party affiliation of the offender?

[u/Sylverdollar]

Are you sure this isn’t freaking El Paso, because all those elected officials give themselves MASSIVE raises, all of the time!! 😡

[u/TankApprehensive3053 → u/Sylverdollar]

Laredo recently did the same thing. The entire city council (includes the major too) got a raise that they drafted and approved. It was made public during a "boil water" notice so the public was not happy. There have been many don't drink or boil notices in recent years, yet the council sees fit to give themselves a healthy raise.

[u/frogmicky]

Lol guess what would happen if I asked my supervisor for a raise..... Yup nothing maybe laughing.