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There was a time not so many eons ago when voters trusted their public servants.

A public servant worked for little or no money. He, or she, believed in helping the populace. The welfare of the voters came above his.

Money wasn't important. Public service was supposed to be a sacrifice.

But not anymore.

Public servants may want to be of service, but they also want to be paid for it — handsomely. No more sacrifices.

And that may be one of the reasons that trust in our elected public officials has reached all-time lows, not just in Frederick but throughout the nation.

What can be done to get us through the hard times ahead?

The Frederick city and county budgets are projected to be millions of dollars in the red next year. Our public servants might have to make some tough decisions, including furloughs and more layoffs. Tax increases might also be on the way.

But they cannot persuade the public to follow their lead unless they make sacrifices themselves. They must feel the pain just as the voters have — voters who have lost their jobs and homes.

All elected public officials should voluntarily take a 10 percent pay cut, effective immediately. Granted, their salary cutbacks are not going to balance the budget, but they will show that the people at the top are willing to sacrifice.

As far as I know, only one public official, Commissioner Blaine R. Young (R), says he is willing to take the pay cut.

You may hear all sorts of protests that salaries are fixed by law. The law would have to be changed. Well, let's have one of our legislators put in a salary reduction bill.

All of the candidates running for the legislature and the Board of County Commissioners ought to include in their campaign statements that they will take pay reductions.

The most prevalent complaint is that we will not be able to get good people to run for office if they are not paid a competitive wage.

But we don't want people who insist on a competitive wage. We want leaders willing to make a sacrifice like the rest of us. If that means our candidates will all be retired or independently wealthy, so be it.

Surely, I agree that the $45,000 salary of the county commissioners is not enormous. But, with some added outside income or the second income of a spouse, it should be enough to get by.

And that leads to another point. No elected public official should have to sacrifice indefinitely. So I suggest that each candidate this year promise to serve no more than two terms. Then, he can go back to making real money.

If I may be allowed to inject a personal note — both of my parents were public servants throughout their lives. My mother was a teacher of kids with special needs and my father started off as a junior high history teacher before becoming a probation officer. He was one of the top officials in the department when he retired. He never made more than $13,000 a year, and I never heard him complain that he should get more raises.

He thought he was helping people and that was reward enough

My sister and I didn't have the same advantages as the privileged sons and daughters of doctors and lawyers. We went to state colleges, for example, not private universities, nor did we go on spring breaks to Florida like many of our classmates.

Somewhere along the way, the concept of making sacrifices to help your nation — and county — has gone by the board.

Let's elect public officials who can get by on the salary.

Joe Volz is a Pulitzer Prize finalist who has covered every aspect of government from the White House to the Frederick County school board. You can reach him at volzjoe2003@yahoo.com. To submit a letter to the editor in response to this column, log onto www.gazette.net, and click on the Speak Out tab.