We have a saying in our family that applies to participating in competitive activities, and make no mistake, we can make anything competitive. “It isn’t a competition. Until IT IS!” One of the strangest competitions is who can spend the least going out to dinner. We take pride in our fruga lity, handed down from our immigrant roots. Thanks Dad! Our eldest has managed to be the reigning champion of the least expensive tally at dinner.  With a ski town that is packed full of former and current Olympic athletes, it is no surprise that the competitive spirit runs deep. Parades, high school sports, ski outfits, the colleges our kids attend, best dog off leash, fastest down the hill, and more. Even nonprofits get in on the action, turning our annual day of giving, Live PC Give PC, into a high-stakes, 24-hour fundraising sprint complete with online leaderboards. Everyone is a winner, right? Remember, It isn’t a competition, until IT IS. The world of ski town rankings is just as competitive as our night out. For decades, our Park City hasn’t just participated in SKI Magazine’s annual guides or Condé Nast’s Reader’s Choice lists. We have dominated. Yeah, but it isn’t a competition, until IT IS. Deer Valley has spent a generation hoarding No. 1 trophies for grooming and service, while Park City Mountain routinely locks down top honors for terrain and historic access. Heck, look at Stein Eriksen Lodge, which has a flawless Forbes Five-Star rating for 19 consecutive years. We are a town entirely conditioned to being No. 1. So that is why I’m so happy that our City Council and mayor are now the highest paid of any of our peer ski towns. According to this paper’s reporting on the latest budget hearing, our elected officials decided it was time for a “market correction.” By voting to more than double their own compensation, they have secured the ultimate podium finish: nearly $150,000 for the mayor and over $88,000 for councilors. Talk about competitive spirit! Why settle for being a top-ranked destination when our politicians can out earn the leadership in Vail, Aspen, and Jackson Hole? I’m sure our council and the administrators who recommended the increase will be quick to point out, “It isn’t a competition.” Well, yeah, until IT IS.  But unlike my daughter, who wins virtually every time by being frugal, our council wins by being spendy and lining their own pockets! But they did not start this race to the top, No! They got the idea from the equally competitive Summit County Council. When defending the pay increase, city staff actually pointed to Coalville to show who started the race. It turns out our municipal leaders were suffering from a severe case of payroll envy. The cynic in me thinks they saw the county officials taking home their own padded packages and realized they were losing the local compensation competition — sorry, it is not a competition. Naturally, in a town used to winning, letting the county hold the record for “most expensive public servants” simply wouldn’t do. But the real losers of this particular competition are the local taxpayers. We are already getting squeezed by a combined sales tax rate of 9.55%, which ironically, means it’s more expensive to buy things in Park City than it is in parts of Southern California. That’s right, California! The candidate who lost the mayor’s race by a mere seven votes was bold enough to stand up at the meeting and point out the fiscal hypocrisy. Looking at these massive pay raises, I bet there are a lot more than seven voters in this town who are now experiencing some serious buyer’s remorse. Next time my family sits down for dinner, I’m going to make sure our reigning champion of frugality gets an extra round of applause. In our house, saving a buck and keeping costs down makes you a winner.  Maybe the folks at City Hall should pull up a chair and take some notes. But until they learn that true leadership means protecting the taxpayers’ wallets rather than padding their own, I suppose we’ll just have to keep footing the bill for their version of success. After all, fiscal responsibility isn’t a competition in Park City anymore. Well, yeah. Until IT IS. Ari Ioannides, chair of the Summit County Republicans, is a recovering tech entrepreneur, founder of BootUP PD, and serves on local government and nonprofit boards. He offers a conservative perspective on local politics. He can be reached at [email protected] The post The Porcupine Quill: Always out to beat the competition appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less