Barbara Miller-Williams is not leading by example
Barbara Miller-Williams is absolutely correct when she says she's playing by the rules in working a boatload of overtime in order to boost her pension benefits. As a Buffalo cop, she is clearly within her rights to do so.
But, as chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature, one could also argue that she is tone deaf.
The taxpaying public is sick and tired of public employees milking the system for every penny they can lay their hands on. In this case, the $84,159 in overtime she's picked up the past three years -- including more than $51K last year -- will boost her annual pension by an estimated $14,000.
When that public employee also happens to be one of their top elected officials, well, I can anticipate what the reaction will be. It won't be pretty.
Add to it this the fact Miller-Williams is putting in only 15 to 20 hours a week as chairwoman.
On one hand, that's a good thing, because the Police Department prohibits officers from working more than 20 hours a week at an outside job.
Then again, do we really want the chairwoman treating her $52,000-a-year position as decidedly part-time gig?
And probably running on fumes part of the time when she's performing her legislative duties. I mean, she's been working an average of 60 hours a week for the past year, year-and-a-half. On top of that, one weekend a month she's off doing her duty as a member of the Army Reserves.
What's left in the tank to perform her legislative duties?
This could be a moot point when Miller-Williams retires from the police department at the end of the month. But it does raise a question as to just how diligent she is in approaching the job.
Moreover, it puts her, and by extension, her colleagues on the Legislature, in a potentially awkward position the next time they ask rank-and-file employees to make contract concessions to save the county money.
Suffice to say, the Legislature's leader has not led by example.
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