"Why do some Metro Council aides make twice as much as others for the same amount of work?"

The subtitle of a really nice investigative piece by Philip Bailey in LEO on the differences in pay between Louisville Metro Council aides and the potential causes...

Along the way, he reveals some very interesting stuff about the Council members' discretionary budgets.

For weeks Mayor Jerry Abramson has scrambled to fill the city’s $20 million deficit, urging the Metro Council to voluntarily participate in four furlough days to help the city save some much-needed cash. A handful of council members refused, arguing their staffers should not be asked to sacrifice in such tough economic times.

In response, LEO Weekly set out to examine exactly how council members are spending their discretionary funds, a review that revealed, among other things...the salaries of Metro Council...

While each member of the Metro Council is paid $42,475 annually, the salaries of their legislative aides vary wildly, with the majority falling anywhere from $45,000 to $65,000, not necessarily based on experience.

The highest paid full-time aide is Donna Sanders, the longtime legislative assistant to Councilman George Unseld, D-6, who pulls in a whopping $71,260 a year.

On the other end of the spectrum are a handful of aides who are listed as part-time employees and paid considerably less, despite working schedules similar to their full-time counterparts....

Now to the budgets...

Council members receive a hefty purse of discretionary spending, including: $30,000 for office expenses to pay for items from pencils to furniture to magazine subscriptions; $75,000 in Neighborhood Development Funds to appropriate to nonprofits; and $100,000 to pay for capital improvements like sidewalk repairs and street paving. In addition, Metro Council’s general budget provides each member $55,000 to compensate a legislative aide, which each councilperson is required by state law to have.

Two years ago the council began allowing members to fluidly transfer money between their discretionary funds, which may explain why some council members pay their legislative aides such high salaries, despite a modest budget for personnel costs.

Council members who pay their aides more than $55,000 must transfer money from discretionary funds to pay the difference. In addition to an aide, some council members hire administrative clerks and other staff assistants, requiring even more funding transfers. Those additional staffers are paid less than $20,000 on average....

Then, to the question of whether legislative aides should join all other city workers who are taking unpaid furlough to deal with the lean city budget...

Three other members — Judy Green, D-1, Mary Woolridge, D-3, and Cheri Bryant-Hamilton, D-5 — indicated last week that their staffers might not participate in the furlough days, prompting criticism from some colleagues....

...although legislative aides are Metro employees, the mayor does not control their staff schedules, and if any member of the council decides to exempt their staff from the furloughs, it’s solely their decision....

“If 99 percent of the Metro workforce is being asked to take furloughs, I think it’s inexcusable we wouldn’t do that as well,” he says.

And then there's the startling case of Glen Stuckel-- apparently, a notable fiscal conservative on the Council. (Note the other council members giving him a hard time!)

Council members have long chided Councilman Glen Stuckel, R-17, for being one of the more frugal with discretionary spending. With half the fiscal year complete, he’s only spent about 15 percent of his budget for office operations....