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4/24/2009
How much handwriting is on the wall?
Freeze/cut wages or increase taxes or both? If governments throughout the country aren’t asking the question, they’ll find plenty of states and municipalities that are.
We’ve seen news of layoffs and wage freezes appearing more often since the first of the year. This week, it was news coming out of L.A. – “Los Angeles mayor again calls for ‘shared sacrifice’ and a ‘menu of options’ including pay cuts and furloughs that may help avoid layoffs among the city’s 50,000-member workforce.”
And similar stuff from L.A. County:
Los Angeles County officials on Monday unveiled a $22.8-billion budget for the coming fiscal year that cuts $415 million from the current budget, taps reserves to offset dwindling tax revenue and eliminates 1,684 positions that are mostly vacant.
Although county officials want to avoid layoffs, they warned that additional cuts probably will be needed this year depending on the economy and the state budget. Today's New York Times shares tales of several states grappling with furloughs vs. the increased stress on state services.
Two news items Wednesday were from communities right here in our back yards, as opposed to 2,000 miles away.
In Columbia County, the County Board, by a voice vote of 23-6, refused to ratify the proposed two-year contract between the county and the Wisconsin Professional Police Association.
The union, which represents 33 sworn officers in the sheriff's department, already had ratified the contract, which called for a 2 percent salary increase retroactive to January, an additional 1 percent in July, another 2 percent in January 2010 and another 1 percent in July 2010.
Even though it's possible that the County Board's rejection will lead to the contract going to binding arbitration - which could result in the county being required to honor a contract calling for even larger raises - several supervisors said it's necessary to go on record about both the county's financial straits and those of its residents.
Supervisor John Tramburg of Fall River, who is chairman of the County Board's finance committee, said such raises are inappropriate at a time when the county's unemployment rate is 9.1 percent, and when many county residents who work in the private sector are either losing their jobs or taking pay cuts. In Caledonia, five unions, including the firefighters, have approved a salary cut of 2.5% from May through December; two unions have refused to accept the cuts.
“We’d rather take a pay decrease than see someone lose their job,” said Don Tiegs, vice president of Caledonia Professional Firefighters Local 2740. Further talks with police patrol officers and emergency dispatchers were scheduled for later this week.
And from yesterday’s FoxPolitics News, the Hudson School District is facing a potential $2 million cut in revenue, and “the Board of Education is asking all employees to agree to a wage and salary freeze for the upcoming year.”
In addition to requesting the wage and salary freeze, the board voted for $1.2 million in cuts in programs and operations. Prior to that, administrators and principals shed $1.3 million in staff and program cuts.
But even with the additional staff and program cuts, the mill rate for the upcoming school year would likely have to be raised by four or five percent from $7.04 to around $7.32-$7.35 per $1,000 of property valuation…. Earlier this year, Governor Doyle’s proposed 2009-11 budget “does not provide for any pay raises” and, according to the governor, “leaves one in 10 state jobs, or 3,600 overall,” unfilled, with state workers being asked to make higher contributions for health insurance and retirement. Now, that’s not to say spending doesn’t increase in this budget – it does, by almost 11%, proposed over projected actuals.
In grappling with decreased revenues, Milwaukee County Exec. Scott Walker suggested a combination of layoffs and wage freezes.
For longer-term budget fixes, the county executive called for elimination of some types of pay raises; trimming sick pay and overtime benefits; privatizing a host of county services; and selling or leasing some county assets, with Mitchell International Airport the prime candidate.
He also called for creating a new 401(k)-style pension system for all new employees and eventually phasing out the county's traditional defined-benefit pension plan. The county's generous 2000 pension benefit improvements are blamed for a major share of the county's ongoing budget deficit. How much handwriting is on the wall?
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Let's see what Outagamie County does. The last time out they gave a 3.5% pay increase with very little in increased contribution to health care benefits. Let's see if they have the intestinal fortitude to revamp the contracts and look for wage freezes or will they just attempt to cut programs and leave other sacred cows alone. An excellent start would be to look at the Health Center for potential privatization as other counties have done. Let's see what your supervisors and County Executive propose in this next budget.
MikeThomas (Fri Apr 24 15:42:36 2009)
"How much handwriting"? Not enough for Doyle to read! Which is why we need a recall, if only to wake him up!
emily matthews (Sat Apr 25 11:50:07 2009)
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