It’s the classic sign of the end of any political administration — the purging of the top brass.
But District leaders who serve at the pleasure of outgoing Mayor Anthony Williams will leave with an unusually generous bonus, in most cases 12 weeks of “separation pay” that will cost the government millions of dollars.
“These are folks who are going to lose their jobs,” said Peter Shapiro, senior fellow at the University of Maryland’s J.M. Burns Academy of Leadership. “For an upper-level executive in any large corporation, a severance package is standard. But it always feels a little bit different when it’s taxpayer dollars.”
About 195 executive and excepted service employees have been told to submit their letters of resignation by Dec. 1.
The list includes all department chiefs, the mayor’s personal staff, policy directors and attorneys, among others.
Most will learn by mid-December that the letters were accepted, forcing them out come Jan. 2 when the next mayor, likely Democratic nominee Adrian Fenty, takes the reins.
That mass departure comes with a price. Under a 28-year-old D.C. law, up to 12 weeks salary is to be paid in a lump sum to executive and excepted service employees, ranging from Williams’ communications director and chief of staff to his dozens of department directors.
The bonus is available to employees who have held their jobs for at least one year, but not to those who accept a position with the next administration.
The Fenty camp is in the process of deciding who will be asked back. Each District agency budgeted for the severance pay differently. The Office of Budget and Planning could not say what had been set aside.
However, most top D.C. staff earn between $70,000 and $150,000. Three months severance for a $100,000 earner would be roughly $25,000.
Multiplied by 195: $4.875 million. The generous severance package appears to be a rare reward.
In Baltimore, for example, employees get nothing but unused vacation time, and a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin O’Malley was surprised to learn of the deal.
In Virginia, former Gov. Mark Warner provided three weeks severance to those staff who applied for, but were denied, a job with the Tim Kaine administration.
Separation pay
» D.C. Council employees also
eligible
» At least four council offices transitioning
» $304,400 included in council’s fiscal 2007 budget
