Seems every time you turn a corner in the John A. Wilson Building these days you run into someone either being investigated, conducting an investigation, or suggesting how council members could curb their corruption. I’ve been doing some investigating on the money and accounting sphere — always a dangerous undertaking without the help of a math-whiz daughter. My goal was to ascertain the true value of a seat on the D.C. City Council.
Let’s begin with the salary we pay the council’s 12 members, but leave aside the chairman, who earns the most. The current take-home pay is $125,000 a year, and the job is part time.
We taxpayers also foot the bill for the council staffs. Each member receives $429,000 to hire people for their personal operations. They receive approximately $400,000 to staff committees they head, and most do head a committee. So let’s assume most have budgets of $830,000 for executive assistants and press secretaries and legislative staff.
What about that gold-plated office space? Folks in the private sector would pay New York prices for an office with a Pennsylvania Avenue address, around the corner from the White House, in a vintage building — recently renovated — with views of Friendship Plaza for some and the tip of the Washington Monument for others, or perhaps the back of the Treasury Building. Real estate pros say the offices could command $60 a square foot. If council members’ offices occupy about 7,000 square feet, they would have to fork over $420,000 a year in rent if they were paying out of pocket.
Add it up: $125,000 in salary, plus $829,000 for staff, plus $420,000 for office space. Rounds off to $1.4 million a year. Not bad.
I’m not saying that many council members are not worth our contribution to their well-being and productivity; I’m not suggesting they move to lesser digs or take a pay cut or reduce staff. But I do think we taxpayers deserve a better sense of what we are getting for our bucks. In my continuing quest for transparency, I suggest council members produce:
» A daily schedule so we can track their good works. Mayor Vince Gray publishes one; why not the council?
» Full financial disclosure statements for all outside work. As it stands, they are required to report income only from firms doing business with the city, at their discretion. It’s time to adopt the standards of federal appointees, who must report all clients or employers who have paid them more than $5,000 in a year.
» Complete local and federal tax filings. If it’s good for presidents and governors, why not our council members?
If they won’t establish such rules, I’m beginning to think Congress might have to encourage them. Pains me to suggest such a breach of local autonomy, but the council can’t seem to police itself.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
