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Governments Cannot Continue Spending

Our Voice
The Times-Journal

Published December 11, 2009

Forgive us, but we must wonder why Alabama’s rankings almost always seem backward. Aside, from the Crimson Tide’s perch on top of the college football world, we just never seem to get it right.

When it comes to education, we’re almost always at the bottom of any national list. The same can be said for so many other critical areas. But, when it comes to the bad things – like poverty level or obesity – we sit near the top. This is the point where we always offer our thanks to Mississippi for keeping us away from actually being the worst.

Recently, we found out Alabama Attorney General Troy King ranks at the top of another list. He’s the highest paid attorney general in the country. That’s right. King makes more money than the AG’s in California, New York, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Georgia or any other state that towers over our state in terms of population.

Certainly, it’s not King’s fault. King has no control over his salary, which was set by a 40-year-old law that sets the salary to be the same as an associate justice on the Alabama Supreme Court. In fact, according to the Associated Press, King was just 8 months old when that law was passed.

“As a result, all of Alabama’s attorneys general since 1969 have received salaries that are set by state law,” Chris Bence, King’s chief of staff, told the Associated Press.

And, to his credit, King actually declined a raise he was due in March.

What’s disappointing, however, is the fact Alabama also ranks among the poorest and lowest-wage states in the country. Couple that with our relatively low population compared to places like California, New York and Texas, it would stand to reason our attorney general’s salary would be more in line with our other rankings.

Maybe our mistake is thinking reason is part of the equation.

We certainly believe people should be paid a fair wage for a job. And, the job of attorney general in our state is critically important. At the same time, though, families, cities, towns and our state continue to face unprecedented money concerns.

We find it difficult to understand how governments can continue to offer pay increases at a time when revenues remain below necessary levels.

This is one of those times governments should follow the leads of businesses who are proving they can weather the storm in a fiscally-responsible manner. Many businesses have been forced to reduce costs, freeze wages and become more creative in an effort to more effectively serve their customers.

In this case, we are the customers of government. We encourage all governmental agencies, along with the Alabama Legislature, to take long, hard looks about where tax money is being spent and be sure that money is serving the taxpayers.

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