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You pay their salaries. Do you feel public employees in your city, town and/or State are undercompensated, overcompensated or compensated fairly for all parties involved?
You pay their salaries. Do you feel public employees in your city, town and/or State are undercompensated, overcompensated or compensated fairly for all parties involved?
I feel that there are to many of them on all levels of government..
You pay their salaries. Do you feel public employees in your city, town and/or State are undercompensated, overcompensated or compensated fairly for all parties involved?
Compensated very fairly. Public employees almost have guaranteed employment unless they really mess up bad - (1) gov't generally doesn't fire people, (2) lots are covered by civil service which makes it hard to let someone go; and (3) unions are still very prevelent in gov't so have that protection.
If they want to make more then move out from under the above protection and take on more risk of employment. Risk vs Reward. Move into a small business that must survive with every decision it makes. Risk is high but reward can be high as well. Or move into corporate America, again reward is generally higher, but you can also be let go at a moments notice with no protection of union or civil service - again more risk but offset by reward.
Most public employees also pay very little for their benefits (insurance, etc) so if you move somewhere else and make more, your expenses for benefit participation could go up - offsetting some of that increase.
Most public employees are still under pension programs too. You know the exact date you can quit (even if years away) and continue to draw a paycheck for the rest of your life. Factor in the value of that lifetime protection when comparing paychecks. Move into the corporate or small business world and give up that guarantee. You might pick up a 401(k) in that trade, but now management of those funds is left to you - in my mind a better deal, but something you now have to think about everyday for the rest of your life, to insure that you can retire when you want - hopefully payback (reward) is much higher than pension, but the risk is very real of either not having enough to retire when you want or making sure it lasts till your last day.
Your question sometimes people just look at net paycheck when answering. They are not comparing apples-to-apples with lifetime impact and the daily risk.
This feeds real well into the whole argurment if teachers are paid enough... don't get me started on that one.
I think that some, like police and firemen, are underpaid. About the rest? I just don't know.
There seem to be many working for my city that are nearly worthless. I sometimes wonder if it's the salaries that make working for the city undesirable so that all they can get are the ones that no one else will hire.
But the bottom line is how much can (or will) the taxpayer stand? Will they cheerfully pay more taxes for higher salaries? Maybe yes, for more and better police. Probably no, for the dummies down at the desk at city hall.
I think that some, like police and firemen, are underpaid. About the rest?
A Policeman or Fireman in many many jurisdictions can retire with a full pension in their mid-40's or early-50's, not unlike the military. Then take that lifetime income and start a second career. How much is that worth?
Again, don't look at a paycheck and make the comparison. Look at lifetime value of their compensation. They are not underpaid - their unions (and the teachers) just will never make that apples-to-apples comparison.
They do good work and justify good pay - and they get that from the lifetime value perspective
These were good posts, but nobody is saying which jurisdiction they are referring to and when I said all parties involved I wanted to know from your perspective. If the lawmakers came to you tomorrow and said we are raising your taxes this year to increase the salary of the jurisdiction you refer to would you be accepting, pissed or joyed (unlikely)?
Location: Life here is not an Apollo Mission. Everyone calm down.
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I've been a 911 operator for 13 years and make 31K. I know many operators that have other jobs to make ends meet. I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd like my worst day handled on the phone by someone that just put in 6 hrs at Fed Ex. I know operators that live out of motels. Turn around is high. If they would just pay for this resource; they would have the best employees, willing to stay.
I have come to terms that I will not have a pension. That is not always the case; but in my situation, it is.
LOVE the work. Would never think of doing anything else; but it would be nice to have a savings account.
These were good posts, but nobody is saying which jurisdiction they are referring to and when I said all parties involved I wanted to know from your perspective. If the lawmakers came to you tomorrow and said we are raising your taxes this year to increase the salary of the jurisdiction you refer to would you be accepting, pissed or joyed (unlikely)?
I was talking local jurisdiction when referencing both public employees and police/fire. They make a very fair wage, again when looking at the lifetime value of that position and also the risk/reward aspect I mentioned earlier.
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