Police Contract Reprise

Well, New Philadelphia, you've been had again.

The Police Contract is evidently going to be approved, even if only by a technicality. Last night City Council couldn't muster the votes to either adopt or reject the proposed contract. It required a vote of five to do either, and both options, accept and reject, were one vote short. In another week it becomes effective by state law because of the lack of decision. It was, to me, an unbelievable display of self interest and ignorance which set the stage to let this contract go into effect.

The Mayor indicated that a pay raise from $20.41 to $21.61 was only 1%. One of us needs a new calculator.

One council member indicated that the proposed contract will save the city money. If you increase wages, benefits, overtime formulas, and retirement, how can that save money?

The City Auditor said, for the umpteenth time, that in her opinion the City finances would carry us through the end of this year, but she didn't have a clue what was going to happen next year.

The City income tax is far behind last year's revenue, and there are still two months to be accounted for in this year. The money in general fund and Safety Forces fund are both well below last year.

And what we never did find out, is what more does the city get for it's money from this contract. Read the contract if you chose. It's a matter of public record. The answer is nothing. Well, that's not exactly true. You can look forward to higher taxes in the foreseeable future. The Mayor promised that in the Mayoral debate at Kent State when he was running for office.

But, that's not all. There are two other city unions negotiating contracts with the city. Their contractual requests are secrets at this point, but when they hit the council floor, you can expect to see similar increases to what the police contract contains.

So how did it finish up last night? Another round of pay increases for the Safety Forces. No predictions on next year's city income. A total unemployment rate in Ohio of sixteen percent. Increasing foreclosures in the state. Ohio in debt in excess of a billion dollars. The federal government in debt for more than eleven trillion dollars. No foreseeable increase in city income. More wage and benefit increases for city employees in the wings. I guess I'll have to borrow the mayor's calculator to figure this one out.