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Christian Trejbal

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The Christiansburg Town Council recently gave Town Manager Lance Terpenny a 17.5 percent raise, bumping his salary to $125,000.

In Northern Virginia, people might not bat an eye at that kind of money. Here in rural Southwest Virginia, six figures draws attention. With the raise, Terpenny now earns about four times as much as the average Montgomery County worker.

It turns out, that's about the right amount.

Town officials justified the staggering increase by claiming Terpenny was underpaid relative to other town, city and county managers in Virginia. Staff declined to provide the evidence to the public.

Fortunately, public employees' salaries are public information in Virginia. A few phone calls and a spreadsheet proved enlightening.

Cities and towns with populations close to Christiansburg's -- an estimated 17,853 residents in 2006 -- paid their managers a low of $111,381 in Bristol and a high of $161,804 in the D.C. suburb of Vienna.

Higher salaries typically went to long-time town managers. Indeed, Terpenny's lower salary was surprising given that he has worked for the town since 1989 and became manager in 1996.

If Christiansburg wants to prevent other towns from luring him away, the raise was a smart move, even if it might fire up the sort of people who see government waste around every corner.

For readers not up on their local government organizational charts, the town/city/county manager form of government invests a lot of power and responsibility in the manager.

Christiansburg is typical of the style. Voters elect a town council and a mayor. They make the big-picture decisions that guide the town and rule on things like zoning changes.

They hire a town manager to do the real work. He oversees the staff and day-to-day town operations. He makes the council's will become reality.

It is a daunting, stressful job. Terpenny is the chief executive officer of an organization with a $30 million budget -- $40 million this year with construction on the Aquatic Center starting -- and 200 employees. That could be a moderately sized company.

In addition, town managers are charged with protecting the public good. They do not maximize profits; they ensure government spends tax dollars wisely, police fight crime and so on.

It is tough to begrudge them their salaries.

Their raises, on the other hand, should raise eyebrows. Few employers consistently provide such hefty annual increases. Throw out Terpenny's adjustment and one other unique situation, and the managers in the localities I checked still received 5 percent raises on average since last year.

The cost of living increased only 3 percent. No doubt, they all deserved the additional merit increases.

Yet it is fair to ask the underlying question in all of this: Does Christiansburg want to keep Terpenny that badly?

By many measures, the town has done quite well under his watch. Town hall was remodeled. The aquatic center is finally going up. Improvements are under way downtown. Renovation of the recreation center was completed. People continue to move to town.

And, of course, there is the gargantuan commercial district at the north end of town that is generating so much tax revenue. If the council wants that sort of pavement-intensive development, then Terpenny appears to be the man.

Perhaps it is time for a fresh perspective, though. Terpenny has been manager for a decade, and was himself the groomed successor to John Lemley, who was town manager for 40 years.

At $125,000 per year plus benefits, every elected council should periodically have that discussion about its manager if only to be confident he is still the right person to implement its vision. Momentum in local government can be a dangerous thing.

Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley bureau in Christiansburg.