In reference to the letter to the editor titled "Sheriff's Salary" published Sept. 22 in the Times-Union. We all have our opinion and we have the right to differ. It is one of the few freedoms we have left. I do not know Sheriff Goshert personally, but I do have the deepest respect for those who serve and protect whether it be law enforcement, fire fighters, EMT, Armed Forces, etc.
If Sheriff Goshert is indeed being paid $94,993 in salary per year, I hope it is enough. He and others like him risk their lives on a daily basis to protect us. Granted, some are less than saints, but that is not the issue here. I figure if he is paid on a 40-hour per-week basis, that would amount to about $1,826.79 per month or $45.67 per hour. GM pays more for people to operate robots that do their work.
I'm from a town smaller than Warsaw and from my experience, most service employees are on call and must be prepared for emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In that case, Sheriff Goshert is making about $10.84 an hour. Now, figure one third of his pay goes to taxes, and there's probably health insurance, life insurance, and union dues on top of that. If he is lucky, he'll get to use about half his salary for shelter, food, clothing and other necessities. I don't begrudge him his salary and I do appreciate the fact that he chose to freeze his salary.
At last report, the county employees will not be taking a 7 percent cut and for that I am grateful.
If you want to stand up, stand up "to" those you elected, they are in Washington, not Warsaw. (You trim an oversized tree from the top, not the bottom.) That's where the big bucks are being wasted. Big government keeps throwing our money away and some of it lands in their pockets.
Pay close attention: In October, Congress will take its fall break "after" they approve their yearly 3-percent raise and leave all the truly important issues unsolved and hanging. You keep voting for them, not me. They never get voted out of office, they just die there. Then their position gets passed on to a relative of Washington. Do your history thing and find out that Washington is a "family-owned and -operated" organization. Has been for centuries.
