One thing about the Times-Reporter Editorials, they sure do make you feel good. Take the one for Wednesday, February 9, 2011, “City Made Great Strides During 2010.” That’s an editorial to call for rejoicing and bringing on a good nights sleep. What causes the worry, as it usually does, is what is not said, and in this case, there is a lot which is not said. But wait. This is an election year. There are a lot of things which are going to be overlooked, at least by some folks.
The good news: Gross revenue for the city income tax is up 219 thousand dollars.
The bad news: That increase applies only to the general fund, which is only used to pay for projects which fall under administrative tasks of the mayor’s office, City Council, the Safety Director, that sort of thing. Such things as building maintenance, heating gas, electricity, phones, get paid for, in part, through the general fund. Administrative salaries for elected officials and some appointed staff members come out of the general fund. All of the rest, vehicles and other equipment, tools, gasoline, sewer pipes, asphalt, salt in the winter, all the things done by the city departments, do not. Things like wages for the fire and police departments, maintenance crews, sewer plant and water department workers, lawn maintenance workers, the cost of nuts and bolts, of oil and grease, do not. These are charged under different accounts and paid for from specific accounts, but not the general fund. It has been a bad winter. Cold. Natural gas prices are up. How much of that 219 thousand dollars is left after paying the utility bills for the city? That didn’t come up. Huh.
What else didn’t come up was the decrease in City income which will occur when the County distributes the annual State grant money which the city receives every year. The county commissioners have already alerted the city that this State money will be reduced this year, probably substantially. What will such a reduction effect? Well, we had such a good year last year that everybody in the city got pay raises. Wasn’t much, we are told. An average of somewhere around two to three percent over all. We must have been doing well financially to give pay increases, certainly better than communities around us, because every other municipality either held the line on wages or laid employees off. But we were doing good and had this extra money, so what the heck. The police are still negotiating a pay raise for this year even though the country is in a financial depression.
According to the editorial, Mayor Taylor reports that the general fund balance ended a million dollars less than the previous year. The reason for that is, are you ready for this one, expenses increased but revenue did not. Wow.
What the Mayor said, in a way, is true. What he refers to as expenses is really spending. If you don’t spend it, it is not an expense. You want to cut expenses, you cut spending. It is not that difficult a concept. But last year with what money the City did have, it was spent with the attitude of we have it, let’s use it. No looking forward to the future. No recognition that the economy and its related tax base was still in a freefall. No thought that the money held in reserve might be needed in 2011 or 2012, just use it.
Well, this year we may run out of money. An when we do, there isn’t going to be any more. By law the City cannot run on a deficit budget. To bad the feds and the state don’t have to follow that kind of plan. So what will happen? Cutbacks in services first. Paving, water production and delivery, sewer maintenance, cemetery care, park personnel, cuts in police and fire personnel.
The greatest expense the City has is salaries and wages so personnel will be the first to go. Through a series of badly negotiated union contracts over the years, benefits to union workers in the city, amounting to 48% of their base pay, is added to their wages in the form of medical care, dental care, vacation time, overtime, sick leave, retirement, to mention a few. Think of it. There are people working for the city who are making more in benefits than the citizens who are paying their wages through taxation.
On the other hand, the Mayor is evidently overworked and, according to the Times-Reporter editorial, needs help. Forty percent of his time is spent working with people says the editorial. He needs an Human Resources officer, they go for about 70-thousand dollars a year to start, not including benefits. This would relieve the Mayor from dealing with medical leaves, insurance, the four unions and their bargaining contracts. I am sure his secretary would like that as she does all the paperwork for those types of things and the HR officer would certainly have his own secretarial staff. The mayor would also like to have an assistant general services superintendent and a part-time water clerk. Those additions alone, the way I figure it, will pretty much blow the $219 thousand dollar income tax increase from 2010 without taking the gas bill into consideration.
Such is the problem with the T-R editorial. We have the bright shiny side. Things are good, they say. Things are looking up, they say. Why doesn’t the editorial staff look into what they print? Why don’t they check the facts? What happened to the editorials of past years when they expressed opinions, good or bad, and left the advertisements and publicity to the want ads and social columns? I guess true journalism has succumbed.
The good news: Gross revenue for the city income tax is up 219 thousand dollars.
The bad news: That increase applies only to the general fund, which is only used to pay for projects which fall under administrative tasks of the mayor’s office, City Council, the Safety Director, that sort of thing. Such things as building maintenance, heating gas, electricity, phones, get paid for, in part, through the general fund. Administrative salaries for elected officials and some appointed staff members come out of the general fund. All of the rest, vehicles and other equipment, tools, gasoline, sewer pipes, asphalt, salt in the winter, all the things done by the city departments, do not. Things like wages for the fire and police departments, maintenance crews, sewer plant and water department workers, lawn maintenance workers, the cost of nuts and bolts, of oil and grease, do not. These are charged under different accounts and paid for from specific accounts, but not the general fund. It has been a bad winter. Cold. Natural gas prices are up. How much of that 219 thousand dollars is left after paying the utility bills for the city? That didn’t come up. Huh.
What else didn’t come up was the decrease in City income which will occur when the County distributes the annual State grant money which the city receives every year. The county commissioners have already alerted the city that this State money will be reduced this year, probably substantially. What will such a reduction effect? Well, we had such a good year last year that everybody in the city got pay raises. Wasn’t much, we are told. An average of somewhere around two to three percent over all. We must have been doing well financially to give pay increases, certainly better than communities around us, because every other municipality either held the line on wages or laid employees off. But we were doing good and had this extra money, so what the heck. The police are still negotiating a pay raise for this year even though the country is in a financial depression.
According to the editorial, Mayor Taylor reports that the general fund balance ended a million dollars less than the previous year. The reason for that is, are you ready for this one, expenses increased but revenue did not. Wow.
What the Mayor said, in a way, is true. What he refers to as expenses is really spending. If you don’t spend it, it is not an expense. You want to cut expenses, you cut spending. It is not that difficult a concept. But last year with what money the City did have, it was spent with the attitude of we have it, let’s use it. No looking forward to the future. No recognition that the economy and its related tax base was still in a freefall. No thought that the money held in reserve might be needed in 2011 or 2012, just use it.
Well, this year we may run out of money. An when we do, there isn’t going to be any more. By law the City cannot run on a deficit budget. To bad the feds and the state don’t have to follow that kind of plan. So what will happen? Cutbacks in services first. Paving, water production and delivery, sewer maintenance, cemetery care, park personnel, cuts in police and fire personnel.
The greatest expense the City has is salaries and wages so personnel will be the first to go. Through a series of badly negotiated union contracts over the years, benefits to union workers in the city, amounting to 48% of their base pay, is added to their wages in the form of medical care, dental care, vacation time, overtime, sick leave, retirement, to mention a few. Think of it. There are people working for the city who are making more in benefits than the citizens who are paying their wages through taxation.
On the other hand, the Mayor is evidently overworked and, according to the Times-Reporter editorial, needs help. Forty percent of his time is spent working with people says the editorial. He needs an Human Resources officer, they go for about 70-thousand dollars a year to start, not including benefits. This would relieve the Mayor from dealing with medical leaves, insurance, the four unions and their bargaining contracts. I am sure his secretary would like that as she does all the paperwork for those types of things and the HR officer would certainly have his own secretarial staff. The mayor would also like to have an assistant general services superintendent and a part-time water clerk. Those additions alone, the way I figure it, will pretty much blow the $219 thousand dollar income tax increase from 2010 without taking the gas bill into consideration.
Such is the problem with the T-R editorial. We have the bright shiny side. Things are good, they say. Things are looking up, they say. Why doesn’t the editorial staff look into what they print? Why don’t they check the facts? What happened to the editorials of past years when they expressed opinions, good or bad, and left the advertisements and publicity to the want ads and social columns? I guess true journalism has succumbed.
I agree with you, but have to point out that the only state that can run a deficit is Vermont. I believe all other states have passed laws which require a balanced budget.
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