The question is not whether Katie Lichtig should “allow” her employers, the people of San Luis Obispo, to witness budget discussions (“Closed to the public,” July 1). The question is whether Katie Lichtig

should be allowed to stay in her overpaid position. She was hired at a salary that’s an insult to her predecessor, and quite unnecessary: People want to live here, and would come here to do her job for a much lower salary than she’s paid.

The primary reasons city government exists are to provide police, fire, and public works services, followed by parks and recreation, and enforcement of building codes. Beyond the bureaucracy for those services, a case could be made that all additional city positions are frills.

City government should exist to serve the people of the city but there seems to have been a radical reversal of roles: City residents seem to exist to serve the care and feeding of a large city staff.

The old assumption was that city or county government workers would be paid less than their counterparts in private businesses, but would have greater employment security. Now it seems that government workers are paid more than workers in private businesses, but still are more secure in their jobs, with pensions and medical benefits employees of private businesses can only dream about. We have been had.