Remove ImagesLC Watch
Silva and Gold
February 08, 2007
The good news is that Department of Liquor Control Director Franklyn Silva has finally gotten a raise. And it's a good thing, too, since his old salary was actually so low it was illegal.
"State law requires that the deputy earn no more than 95% of the department head's salary," Maui County Salary Commission Chairman Douglas Levin wrote to County Council Chairman Riki Hokama on Jan. 2, 2007. "The last salary increase for the Liquor Control Director and the Deputy did not properly comply with this rule, which the Commission discovered during its process of establishing salaries for 2007."
This means Silva will be pulling down $87,400 a year, rather than the paltry $87,000 he was making. But that brings us to the bad news: a listing of proposed salaries recently approved by the Salary Commission makes clear that Silva's salary will pale before those of other county department heads.
Even with his $400 a year salary increase, Silva will be the lowest paid of the 14 department directors working for the County of Maui. After Silva, the lowest paid director—the guy who runs the Transportation Department—makes $89,700 a year. What's worse, 11 of the 13 deputy directors working for the county make more money than Silva—only the Deputy Personnel Director and Silva's own deputy earn less money each year.
How can this be? Doesn't the county know how hard Silva works? Remember when all those seniors were complaining about getting carded at restaurants—it was Silva they were calling. You think it's easy sending investigators out to enforce regulations prohibiting alcoholic beverages on dance floors or in restrooms? And those members of the Liquor Commission and Board of Adjudication aren't pushovers, either—you think it's easy going to work when some of them don't actually worship the director, but merely revere him?
Sometimes I think people just don't take the LC seriously.