To the editor:
Recently, various local newspapers printed the munificent salaries of City of Alexandria employees. I was aghast that the city manager is drawing about $300,000 a year and his three deputy city managers pull in around $200,000. Most of the other upper echelon employees are also making high salaries.
These figures are considerably higher than federal employees with much more responsibility, since the top SES pay is under $200,000, and the President of the United States only makes $400,000. Which jurisdiction is Alexandria comparing itself to? Certainly not Washington D.C., Arlington County or Fairfax County, all of which have much larger populations.
Another apparently extravagant expenditure is the Capital Bikeshare program, which is a public-private partnership between the City of Alexandria and a commercial operator, Motivate International – which also operates in D.C. – where the ridership pays for 77 percent of costs, as of 2015.
Over the next five years, the city will expend $1.6 million into this company, which is an average of about $300,000 a year. It just doesn’t make sense that our city funds are being spent in this manner.
Capital Bikeshare is essentially a private company, and we need to treat it as such. In other words, they profit from their rentals, so the city should not need to subsidize them. They should eventually stand on their own merits, and pay taxes to Alexandria for the privilege of operating within the city.
Let’s be more prudent with our resources,Alexandria.
-Townsend A. “Van” Van Fleet, Alexandria
