Having just been through 3 hrs at a Mass DMV to pay $170 to correct their problem, I can tell you that I'll take the near-sighted, rule-loving shrew in the Epping DMV any day
The same goes for every other department I've interacted with as well. A few months ago, an engineer at the DES spent an hour talking with me about a local dump AND followed up on the discussion as promised. Just try to find that conscientiousness anywhere else.
I don't think we should nickel-and-dime people in gov't. Pay them an honest wage with good benefits and fire them if they suck. 50k sounds pretty reasonable to me for somebody with 23 years on the job.