Opinion

GOP presidential candidates have the ‘foreign born’ problem

1. One of the key points in building a relationship is listening

• Certainly not higher than $200k. At that, this would be very generous. • $150,000 – he does a great job and that is a great compensation! • At the level of enrollment, he should be receiving close to $150,000 and perhaps some performance-based bonuses. • $150,000 or commensurate with  community college president salaries and benefits of comparably sized institutions. • The compensation level should be tied to the rate-of-pay of the rest of the employees. One formula could be 10% more than the highest paid employee. Another might be no more than 75% more than the lowest paid full-time employee. After applying some formula, the board needs to look at enrollment, budget, accomplishment of goals, customer (student and taxpayer) satisfaction, and faculty assessment. What we know for sure is that the current compensation is way out of line. • $250,000.  He’s already at that level, or pretty close.  It would be insulting to reduce his salary. Future salary increases need to be thoughtfully considered, though, based on Gavilan’s revenue, cuts to services, public opinion and salary comparisons of all Gavilan staff. It seems that top level staff receive hefty compensation packages while rest of personnel receive no raises or salary cuts to bear the burden. • Somewhere about $165k seems fair. • Our Gavilan College President has a payment contract as of last year. I have no idea what a president of a JC should be paid, but I’m guessing the amount can exceed $250,000 since his total amount when the payment contract is completed will be $276,000. • $200,000 is fair and reasonable • A very reasonable salary and benefit package should be $150,000. Then, attach an aggressive bonus plan of up to 25% of the package that rewards recipent based on Steve’s production.  Part of incentive plan must be related to how the student and taxpayer benefits from his leadership. Our elected officials have gotten way off course by chasing a false philosophy in which it is believed that to get great public sector managers, you must pay them private sector wages.  Higher salaries can be justified and  sustained only when they are tied to financial risk. If public sector managers want higher salaries they can find them in the private sector. • “Researcher John Curtis said that, according to a recent survey conducted by his organization, the compensation of public community-college presidents range from $81,000 to $390,000, not including extra benefits for housing and car expenses. The size of the salary is influenced by the size of the school, its location and the number of its students and employees.” Given this information, I think Kinsella's salary is too much for the size of the Gavilan student body. His salary today makes sense in a school that serves over 35,000 students at least – Gavilan has less than 6,000 students. The Trustees depend on him and his expertise, but competition for jobs is healthy and should be practiced for Gavilan’s presidency in the future, given that student fees are increasing and more students are relying on financial aid to finish their schooling … $150,000 to $200,000 is more reasonable.

• 1.5% to 3% depending on the benefits package. As it stands, the benefits package is so comprehensive it would be more than fair to offer a 1.5% cost of living increase. That said, I do appreciate very much all that our GPD does for our community and they should be compensated fairly. • 1.5%. I also feel that the police should be paying into their pension and medical programs and not expect taxpayers to pay them for the rest of their lives. • No raise. It’s too soon to come out! This is going to be a long and bumpy recovery. • 1.5%, just to show appreciation for what they do.  Any other increases should be on an individual basis based on performance. • No raise. During difficult times, every employee of the city should understand that sacrifices must be made by all.  For instance, Boise, Idaho’s police department have already decided to give up a 2.5% raise they were going to receive in October, 2012. This move will save their city $1.2 million.  We all need to step up to help our community. • Out here in real life, especially in the non-profit world (I think the city

1. Our new library is now equipped to be a community hub

Staff at Gavilan College needs to step up its game to give students necessary support

Water district should be  transparent, accountable and should not make a 490% profit