Local Radar

Why double pay the administrator?

web posted February 28, 2006

See the related (Who is getting robbed)  Editorial Cartoon here

OPINION – We firmly believe people should be paid for a job well done. Do not confuse that with being paid well for a job done, such as in the case of Edgefield County Administrator Wayne Adams. We are not saying Mr. Adams does not work hard. He certainly stays busy, of course often times with things that he has no business being involved in in the first place. However, the $92,000 + salary he draws concerns us.

Mr. Adams earns more than the Mayor of the second largest City in Georgia, Augusta. In fact, Mr. Adams makes almost double the mayor’s salary. We are sure it is less difficult to manage one of South Carolina’s most rural and underdeveloped counties than it is to run the City of Augusta Georgia.

Some would argue that the Administrator’s job is more important that the Mayor’s. Taking that into consideration, the City Administrator in Augusta Georgia, Fred Russell, earns $129,792 a year to manage thousands of employees and a more than quarter billion-dollar budget. Compare that to Mr. Adams who oversees a few hundred employees and a few million-dollar budget for over $92,000. 

Many counties in South Carolina comparative to Edgefield County pay their administrator between $34,000 and $56,000, some with more employees and larger budgets. In a report released in 2004 the counties closest to Edgefield County in budget and populations; Allendale, Bamberg, and McCormick Counties the average pay for the administrator was $49,258 a year.

In a strange note, the numbers from Edgefield County reported Mr. Adams made only $66,552 a year, far below his actual $92,000 salary.

Often times in conversations with County Council members they say Mr. Adams’ pay is commensurate to other like counties. We just wonder what numbers they are looking at to make that conclusion. The numbers provided to EdgefieldDaily.com from the reporting agency do not support that claim, quite the contrary.

In fact, according to our calculations, Mr. Adams is paid by $41,709 more than the closest county in population and budget size. That is not just wrong it is ignorant.

Edgefield County is one of the 11 poorest counties in the state but we pay the county administrator a salary above the maximum of counties twice our size, such as Abbeville, Chester, or Union, which list their maximum pay for the administrator in 2004 as $89,382 a year.

Granted the numbers we are using are two years old, but rest assured Mr. Adams did not receive a $40,000 raise last year to make up the difference in the reported numbers. His pay at the time was underreported in the survey.

Now, understand that we do not blame Mr. Adams for getting the best contract he can get from the Edgefield County Council. It does speak volumes, however, about the level of competency that is housed within the County Council to approve such an outlandish contract. They are the ones who vote on Mr. Adam’s contract, a contract that mysteriously was renewed without a vote this year. Clerk to Council Barbara Stark told EdgefieldDaily.com Mr. Adams’ current contract did not expire until December of 2006. The annual contract is not “self renewing” which means somewhere, somehow, it was renewed.

That is strange. We did not miss any meetings and it is not listed on any agenda.

If Mr. Adams wishes to make the $92,000 salary he presently has he should look for it in a county such as Richland, Lexington, Greenville, or Spartanburg that can afford it… not Edgefield County. He is obviously far too expensive for our county and budget. Perhaps those who allow it should also be given new jobs, such as ex-councilman.
 
 

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