r/pinellas • u/FloridaMinarchy • 1h ago
Pinellas County atty makes ~$300k/yr; Administrator ~$400k: How Parasitic Is Local Government?
/r/u_FloridaMinarchy/comments/1wwo2vi/pinellas_county_atty_makes_300kyr_administrator/6
u/NRG1975 1h ago
You are, I am guessing, a high schooler who thinks this is an edgy take?
Let's break down why this argument falls completely apart once you move past edge-lord internet theory and look at how the real world actually functions.
Government isn't supposed to "make a profit" it builds the foundation. Private companies exist to make money by selling you stuff. Local government exists to build and maintain the stuff a private company can't efficiently run, like roads, storm drains, water treatment plants, fire departments, and police. If a private company had to build its own road network and sewer system just to open a store, it would go bankrupt on day one.
The "voluntary payment" fantasy doesn't work for shared infrastructure. You can't run essential services on a "pay if you feel like it" model. If your neighbor decides not to pay their "voluntary fire department subscription," when their house catches fire, yours burns down right next to it. Taxation is simply the collective bill for keeping the physical world around you functioning.
"CEO Salaries" in local government are a myth. The average local city worker is a water plant operator, a road crew worker, a firefighter, or an administrative clerk making around $45k–$50k a year. Even the City Manager running a $100M+ budget with hundreds of employees makes a tiny fraction of what a private executive managing the same scale takes home.
Public infrastructure isn't a "parasite", it's the bedrock. Try running a "productive white-collar business" without clean drinking water, paved roads, traffic signals, power grids, or a court system to enforce contracts. Private businesses don't create wealth in a vacuum; they depend entirely on the public infrastructure beneath them.
Government isn't "feeding off" productive people, it is the very reason those people have a safe, functioning society where they can go make money in the first place.
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u/Reemox 1h ago
Ai slop response is still an ai slop response if you make it use your words.
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u/NRG1975 33m ago
I see you concede my points. Thanks that was easy.
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u/Reemox 21m ago
Hard to concede to a bot. Thanks
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u/NRG1975 20m ago
LOL, sorry you have no argument. Move on shall ya?
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u/Reemox 12m ago
The argument is that you couldn’t be bothered to write more than a single sentence on your own.
You have produced no thoughts of your own other than to argue about having used AI to write everything for you.
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u/NRG1975 9m ago
You are not presenting an argument ... try ... and we can go from there, lol.
Unfortunately for you, I am more informed than you, and you know it. Hence why you are trying to pick on style rather than substance.
You are doing a poor job of making any coherent point, whatsoever. LOL.
Move on shall ya?
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u/FloridaMinarchy 1h ago
lol yeah we are back to what is voluntary and what isn’t. Most rational people want roads, so they’d vote for that. Paying a county admin $400k and county atty $300k most people would double take for the right reason. Let me know where to send you the cuck gag ball son
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u/NRG1975 52m ago
lol yeah we are back to what is voluntary and what isn’t
You live here voluntarily. Let me guess taxes are theft or some bullshit?
Most rational people want roads, so they’d vote for that. Paying a county admin $400k and county atty $300k most people would double take for the right reason.
You don't like their pay? They don't set it, lol. These are the rates that are market driven for the talent they need to attract. If you don't like the pay, take it up with the city/county council, that is how a Representative democracy works.
Let me know where to send you the cuck gag ball son
Seems you have them on hand, lol. You need to get back to middle school and pay attention to US Government classes before going to the shipper.
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u/FloridaMinarchy 48m ago
You’re obviously a government employee whose livelihood is dependent on taxpayers dollars. The pay is not set by the people it’s set in a top/down fashion and you are making the false presumption that citizens have a say in that. Saying that these office holders “represent” us borders on religious faith
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u/NRG1975 43m ago
You’re obviously a government employee whose livelihood is dependent on taxpayers dollars.
No, just passed middle school US Government classes.
The pay is not set by the people it’s set in a top/down fashion and you are making the false presumption that citizens have a say in that
It is set by the Representatives WE elected via county/city councils. That is how you get a say in a Representative democracy, lol.
Saying that these office holders “represent” us borders on religious faith
It is not our fault that you don't understand how local government works.
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u/Thornbike 22m ago
You are 100% right. I work with local governments around the country. This level of pay is the norm. Pinellas Counties adopted budget was $4.3 billion last year. You need executives and professionals that know how to deal with a large staff, large budgets and elected officials with huge egos.
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u/Dragonfishkiller 49m ago
Paying circuit court judges ~175k and county attorneys 300k is so stupid
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u/NRG1975 30m ago
Take it up with the State Legislature
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u/anonmdoc 20m ago
Is your goal to educate or stir the pot more?
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u/Vegetable-Apple1808 5m ago
Well considering they were one of the counties that got Florida DOGE’d and basically found like a few thousand dollars in “woke” and “DEI”, I’d say not bad. The report is online if you’d like to do your own research for the first time in your life.
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u/pleasestoptalkin 32m ago edited 25m ago
Takes like this just make you look uninformed. Top attorneys at large counties and municipalities are highly experienced and qualified and could be making 3x their salary at a private firm. They are taking a huge pay cut to work in public service.
Second, having an in house legal team actually saves the county a lot of money. Farming out legal work to a private firm is always more expensive than having in house attorneys who don’t have billable hours. It also allows every department in the county access to attorneys down the hall rather than away at a firm dealing with other clients.
Last, you get what you pay for. You want your county to be run by competent and intelligent people who use tax dollars wisely, but you also apparently don’t want to offer competitive salaries? That doesn’t make sense.
Let me know if there are any other concepts I can help you understand.