Aug 1, 2006 3 min read

You can credit state Rep. H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg for using his knowledge of the system to slip an amendment into a bill that will permit second-class township supervisors to get reimbursed when that work takes them away from any “regular” job they have. Because of DeWeese’s cunning and masterful efforts, all township supervisors in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, which are among the state’s 1,456 second-class townships, can start collecting such reimbursement come September. If they have another job and township business interferes, they can qualify for reimbursement of up to 120 hours per year. That’s a grand total of 15 eight-hour workdays.

But you should question the method by which this idea became law, which in a representative democracy stands as an example of bad government. That’s because the public that will eventually foot this bill was kept in the dark as to DeWeese’s intent and the ultimate ramifications of the change. The normal public review process for any new law – committee hearings, testimony and chance for public input – was circumvented in the name of expediency.

It’s the same secretive, rush-it-through-now path that created last year’s incendiary pay raise fiasco. Then as now, the public was shortchanged and treated as persons non-grata on an issue that could have serious financial ramifications. What DeWeese and his cohorts have failed to learn is that public policy is not a matter to be exclusively decided by lawmakers and the special interest group that will be the recipients of public largesse. Citizens deserve to know what’s going on before it happens, not after.

Here’s one problem we see with the legislation: It gives supervisors the ability to set parameters on reimbursement, including any financial limits and whether proof of lost pay would be required. Should providing such proof really be an option? And rather than have the three foxes guarding the township henhouse, doesn’t it make sense to put policy-setting and oversight powers in the hands of an outside party, perhaps the township auditors?

As a result of this legislation, taxpayers in these parts should also be asking themselves why the vast majority of local supervisors beef up their paychecks with the title of roadmaster. That’s apparently not so in the eastern part of the state, where supervisors do that job for between $1,875 and $5,000 per year. Contrast that with South Union Township, where a supervisor is paid $3,250 but gets another $56,000 for being a roadmaster.

And around here it’s more the rule than the exception that all three township supervisors in a municipality also serve as roadmasters, thus padding their own paychecks. Is that practice really necessary, especially if their brethren in the eastern part of the state don’t need to hold two titles?

The change goes into effect in early September. Monitor your supervisors and make sure you know what reimbursement policy they are putting into effect, because down the road you’ll be paying that bill.