Let's assume that Richard Finn, the Anniston City Council's first choice to be city manager, researched the often-chaotic working conditions at City Hall.

If so, then he knew that Anniston's next city manager would be tasked with answering to a mayor and council renowned — already — for rewriting the rules of personal decorum and political etiquette. It's the dysfunctional family of Calhoun County politics. By no means is it the political version of the Waltons, with mayor and councilmen sharing meals and daily smiles.

Silly, yes. But that may be the only reasonable explanation as to why Finn began his contract negotiations by asking for a larger annual salary than the pay scale — between $90,000 and $120,000 — advertised for the position.

Finn wants $135,000 a year — a $15,000 increase had the council agreed to base his salary on the top end of the job's pay scale. Not only is he not going to get that salary, Councilman John Spain says, he's not going to get the job, either. The council's moved on to another candidate, Chambers County Manager Don Hoyt.

It's the correct decision on two counts: (1) Anniston advertised the salary range; and (2) Anniston, a city hardly awash in revenue, can neither overpay for this critical position nor succumb to the salary demands of a job candidate, regardless of his qualifications. Negotiating perks and other contract items — vacation time, the use of city-owned vehicles, severance packages — is wholly acceptable; seeking more money in this manner is not.

If Finn can't, or won't, live in Anniston on a possible $120,000 annual salary, he should never have applied for the job. If the advertised salary wasn't good enough, he should have said so during his interview — or beforehand.

It's important to note that the $15,000 difference between the advertised salary's high end and Finn's salary request is a sizeable amount of cash by Anniston standards. For many, it's the difference between existence and poverty.

Fifteen grand is more than half of Anniston's per-capita income in 2007 inflation-adjusted dollars ($21,928).

It's also nearly half of Anniston's median household income ($32,638).

It's also a third of Anniston's median family income ($44,395).

Time will tell if Finn's unreasonable salary request proves to be another appearance of the storm clouds that seem to hang over Anniston's skyline these days, or if it works out better in the end. The city hasn't had a full-time city manager since December, and wouldn't you know it? The chosen finalist wants a raise before he works his first day. It's just Anniston's luck.

There have been many decisions made by Anniston's council that are worthy of denigration. This one is not.