“Public sector wages and benefits should be in line with those of the private sector, or else you’re at risk of losing talent or overspending (either way)”
No. Public sector wages should be in line with what it takes to attract the level of competence needed to run the bureaucracy. They are not easily fired as most private sector employees are, so that needs to be part of the compensation equation.
Which is why I mentioned “internal and external” audits.
You may not be familiar with these, but companies look inside and outside their own industries, inside and outside their own regions and, yes, inside and outside private/public sector markets.
You cannot analyze wages when you’re comparing only comptrollers within a particular public sector job, market, or region. You must compare to the COMPETITION, because it isn’t always the next municipal government, but maybe local manufacturing or service sector markets.
I stand by statements.
Been there.
Done that.