Boston will implement new regulations Monday to tighten control of the lucrative marriage business at City Hall. But the changes fall far short of earlier City Council proposals that would have stopped the city clerk from keeping tens of thousands of dollars in fees for performing weddings during the workday.
City Clerk Maureen E. Feeney and three other municipal employees authorized to perform nuptials will still be able to keep the $60 fee for ceremonies conducted on the job, while they earn their regular salaries. But the city has added a $15 administrative charge, which will go into the city’s coffers.
Comments
This is the exactly they type of political graft that gives government workers such bad reputations.
...and the state department of revenue and the IRS are notified how? Sounds like my plumber who also insists on no record of the transaction...Oh, Oh I mean cash. Not like us ordinary blokes who work for someone else and get issued a W-2 or 1099. Sure, no where near the $60,000 my predecessor hauled in while with her other hand doing all that is required of the City Clerk. If I understand the situation, because the city can not get the funds paid to a city worker for doing what is in her job description, persons wanting that service now have to pay $15 more, not because the nature of the service has changed but just because the city believes it should be getting something and this is the only way. Why is none of it surprising??
Free for Veterans? How about making it free for people who actually pay taxes?
THIS IS A JOKE-----RIGHT?????????******Instead of actually correcting a wrong(the CLERK gets to keep the money) the city CHARGES MORE to the TAXPAYER? OH ya--let's up the cost of living for retirees(that was on the front page)and really SOCK IT TO THEM. REMEMBER, WE KEEP ELECTING THESE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the kind of stuff that undermines the credibility of government. Fees earned for services delivered by a city employee should belong to the city for the benefit of the city and taxpayer.
The city clerk makes $100,000. For what services? It would seem, at the salary level, the clerk has an important position, no? Why would any such "important" employee be allowed to be constantly "distracted" by a mundane task such as performing a rote, simple, ceremony? Either the clerk has better things to do with their time or they don't. They should either NOT do wedding ceremonies at all, giving the duty to a less "important" person in the office or they should NOT be paid $100,000. How is it remotely coherent to have a highly paid employee doing simple tasks in the first place? Worse, you ENCOURAGE the highly paid employee to FOCUS on the simple tasks by giving them a commission each time they do it! Insanity does not begin to describe a "management" decision this transparently corrupt and blatantly idiotic.