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8/19/2010
How tough should an Appleton wage freeze be?
Appleton has a $2.5 million budget hole after assuming a compensation freeze for all employees. At least one union isn’t going to go away easily.
In an e-mailed statement, Scott Pelkin, the Appleton Firefighters Local 257 Vice President, told NBC26:
"We're willing to work with the city where we can and try to help them out with the budget shortfall, but on the other hand, we are not going to balance the city budget on the backs of all the employees."
It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall of those negotiations. I’ve noted in previous blogs that Appleton won’t have an easy time of it. This piece by Jason Richwine may nudge those negotiations along.
Why the Issue of Overpid Government Workers Matters
.... But cutting public-sector pay is important for another reason as well. Government officials at the federal, state, and local levels are facing difficult and painful decisions about spending cuts and tax hikes. Getting excessive government pay under control is an excellent means of reestablishing fiscal credibility with economic forecasters, business owners, and—most importantly—voters. It will give long-term budgetary reform a fighting chance of passing.
In an upcoming article for the September issue of The American Spectator, Andrew Biggs and I go into more detail about the importance of the government pay issue. In particular, we cite an IMF study that evaluated when attempts to balance budgets in the industrialized world are ultimately successful. One of the best predictors of success was cutting the government wage bill. Congress should take this lesson to heart.
Read the whole thing. Fascinating.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
With the private sector hurting, high unemployment and little if any wage growth it is time for our public officals to get the message. I support a 5% across the board cut in wages and benefits for all public sector employees here in Appleton. I would like to see some information about the dispartiy in public and private sector wages and benefits here in Appleton. We all saw the huge disparity on a national basis recently. I'm guessing it is the same here. Our young families and retirees just can't afford it anymore. It's time for the mayor and our school board to get some backbone!!!
JB (Thu Aug 19 08:32:54 2010)
Balance the Budget? I agree with the 5% cut, but also they need to eliminate wasteful departments and lay off some employees. Two things will help fix the system and balance the budget: 1) Put the politicians on a “pay for performance” basis. Balance the budget without harming social benefits and we’ll double their salaries. Don’t and we’ll introduce term limits. 2) Get them off the special interest payroll with public funding of elections. At $5 per taxpayer per year it’d be a bargain. Check out this national bill.
Jack Lohman (Thu Aug 19 09:01:57 2010)
The pay cut (small) is a fascinating idea and would help to re-establish some sort of parity with private sector jobs. I do hate to think that it ever would be an "us" vs. "them" affair! Regarding the salry comparison item: municipal governments present data comparing similar-sized cities with their own city, and only when pressed for data. They absolutely will fight to disregard private sector salary/benefits data for comparable jobs. This is where the public must hold firm and demand comparable job data instead of comparable city data! Maybe it is not possible in the case of firefighters, but admin and clerical and janitorial and mechanic jobs all have private sector counterparts.
JeanMarie (Thu Aug 19 16:02:12 2010)
JeanMarie, they do exactly what corporate boards do. They hire an "independent compensation consultant" to study the public (not private) wages across the country and make a recommendation, and it better be good or they aren't going to be hired again. Corporate boards do the same when they want to give the CEO a $10M package, and they want legal cover for their stupid decision.
Jack Lohman (Thu Aug 19 16:59:41 2010)
I work for a city in the fox valley, and yes I’m one of those public, union employees. I’m more then willing to post my wages and benefits if anyone else that thinks we are over paid post their wages and benefits. By the way I have a degree in environmental sciences and I am state certified so I ask you what do you think a fair wage is?
joe (Fri Aug 20 18:35:06 2010)
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