A show of solidarity?

County Commissioner John Druzbick realizes he doesn't have to give any of his salary back to the county.
But when he and his colleagues voted to impose 10 furlough days on government employees - which amounted to roughly a 4 percent pay cut - Druzbick said he was compelled to follow suit.
He believes it is a way to show solidarity with the rank and file.
So starting with his first bi-weekly paycheck next year, Druzbick said he is going to deduct 5 percent of his state-issued $61,074 salary and give it back to the general fund.
Druzbick said he committed to 5 percent because that was what the board originally was going to impose on employees when they were considering 12 furlough days.
He hopes to pay off that entire $3,000 in the first three or four months.
"I feel more comfortable just putting it into the general fund," Druzbick said. "Our budgets are all going to be less next year, so we all need to help each other and get through."
Druzbick's colleagues are approaching the solidarity issue in different ways.
Commissioner David Russell, for example, said he wrote a check for $2,300 payable to the general fund.
That is about 5 percent of his salary after taxes, he said.
Russell had thought about giving the money specifically to the animal services department but changed his mind.
The general fund, he said, makes the most sense and would provide the greatest impact.
Commissioner Jim Adkins said he doesn't have to write any checks because he is already doing his part to save the county money by not taking health insurance and refusing a county-issued cell phone.
That amounts to an $8,640 savings, according to the county's human resources department.
"It all comes out of the same pot," Adkins said.
Adkins said he would do the same even if furloughs not been initiated among the rank and file.
When first asked the question in June by Hernando Today, County Commissioner Rose Rocco said giving money back was not an option.
In September, Rocco told Hernando Today she would agree to forfeit up to 5 percent of her pay but only if the board had a formal meeting to decide the best place for that money to go: the general fund, a county program or a department.
Such a meeting never occurred.
On Wednesday, Rocco said that, while she cannot afford to cut $3,000 out of her paycheck, she is showing her support for the employees and giving back in other ways.
Those ways include foregoing health insurance with the county.
"That's a big savings right there," said Rocco, adding that she and her husband have other health insurance.
Rocco said she also gives of her time and money to several civic and charitable organizations, including Sons of Italy, the Latin-American Club, the African-American Club and the National Federation for the Blind.
"When they have their functions, I'm there. I'm working it," Rocco said.
She said she also mentors reading-challenged students for one hour every Monday at Westside Elementary School as part of her civic duties.
Rocco, who was headed out of town on vacation Wednesday, said she is aware government employees do not have any option when it comes to sacrificing their pay: It's taken directly from their paychecks.
But she said it is important to remember it is not entirely fair to compare an employee's job to that of a county commissioner.
"Their level of employment is different from ours," Rocco said. "We have different obligations and responsibilities."
Rocco said she has household financial responsibilities and is still recovering from a protracted legal battle in 2006 when her election challenger, former county commissioner Nancy Robinson, filed a lawsuit against her and claimed she violated election laws at the time.
County Commissioner Jeff Stabins, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, told Hernando Today in an earlier interview that he will give back $3,000 or more of his salary in the form of $1,000 scholarship grants to needy Hernando County high school graduates.
He has already given one such scholarship.
"When you give charitably, you do it as an individual and you do what you can and it's really not any other commissioners business what they do," Stabins told Hernando Today in September.