Vail Daily letter: Pay cuts better than layoffs
Vail, CO, Colorado
newsroom@vaildaily.com
While reading about Eagle County’s $3,500,000 projected deficit, it occurred to me that the solution has already been demonstrated at Vail Resorts. Small pay cuts. Their approach was a graduated percentage: 3 percent for workers, 5 percent for supervisors and 10 percent for management. It worked!
Instead of throwing a few out on the street and compounding the unemployment problem, the pain could be shared by all employees during this rough patch in our economy. It would also demonstrate some management leadership by their willingness to cut back a little more. Even the county commissioners could participate. Although their salaries are set by the state, they could voluntarily return 10 percent to the county coffers.
The big advantage would be that service levels could be sustained for the taxpayer. Roads would be maintained, buses would run and other departments would function as usual.
Dave Mott
Wolcott