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It's the suggestion by the county manager, Jennifer Roberts, that we should have a "rate neutral" plan i.e. they don't drop the tax rates, that is disingenuous and gives the county a massive tax increase that was hidden within the revaluation.
I'm not sure if it was a typo that you are calling Jennifer Roberts the county manager or if you mean the county manager AND Jennifer Roberts or something else.
The county manager has published only revenue neutral numbers so far and has explained where there could be some holes with money being kept by the state or bills being pushed to the counties. He has not advocated a rate neutral position or any other position.
His budget proposal is due to come out Tuesday though and I'm guessing in order to pay for it the way he presents it, there would need to be cuts elsewhere or a slightly higher than revenue neutral proposed.
There's about $16M of revenue missing due to state proposals and the tough part is the state budget won't be due until after the county's. It's a tough spot to be in, trying to forecast cuts from the state before they are actually done.
All this has to be hammered out within the next month and that's before all the appeals shake out for reval. I wouldn't want that job.
It was a typo. I should have said the "chair". Everyone has to cut back. The real economy is contracting so government has too too. Let them go and get their money back from the consultants (flim flam artists) they paid for over the years who gave them unrealistic tax revenue numbers.
If these politicians want taxes raised, then let them come to the people and make a case for it, and don't say it's for "education" or "the children" and don't try to hide it in a tax reval.
It was a typo. I should have said the "chair". Everyone has to cut back. The real economy is contracting so government has too too. Let them go and get their money back from the consultants (flim flam artists) they paid for over the years who gave them unrealistic tax revenue numbers.
If these politicians want taxes raised, then let them come to the people and make a case for it, and don't say it's for "education" or "the children" and don't try to hide it in a tax reval.
Well, sales tax revenue numbers just released show an increase for the first time in 3 years. Maybe they can get excited about spending that instead of screwing around with the numbers.
It's a tough call. A LOT of County employees are paid so little to start with I wonder if their job packet included an application for food stamps.
Their portion of health insurance is rising this year but no raise in 3 years to help pay for it. Kind of sucks if your net pay goes down after three years and I'm not talking the big wigs, I mean the front line people.
It's the stuff the state is doing like holding back on lottery money and possibly forcing counties to pay for school buses. This allows NCGA to pat themselves on the back for being fiscal responsible but it's just a lie.
CMS spends $8M just on school bus replacements a year. That isn't counting the other $16M hole in monies that aren't there anymore from the state.
Each $8M is about 1 cent of the tax rate. Even if it's on the low end at $8M and not $24M it means a strict revenue neutral calculation according to the state formula makes us at least 1 cent short.
Meanwhile giving CMS any money besides county employees, I have a problem with that. "Save the kids" but at the expense of county employees not having a raise in 3 years?
I don't know how it's going to shake out. I suppose I should come up with a prediction number for the rate just so we can compare to reality when we know it in a few days.
Kind of sucks if your net pay goes down after three years and I'm not talking the big wigs, I mean the front line people.
What do you think is happening in the private sector around the nation? My net revenue is down.
Do you have direct knowledge to what these "low paid government workers" actually make? I'm not being snarky, I'm curious what the rates are and in comparison to the private sector.
In CT we have CTSunlight.org | Home that pulls all public salary data and puts it into database form. Frankly it's exposed and you would THINK embarassed these people with their lavish salaries and benefits, but it's only made them smug and even more entitled in mind. Anything like that for NC?
Maybe my reading comprehension isn't working well for me today, but I get the feeling that these raises have come to be expected (or demanded) and are not the result of job performance or merit. If that is the case, then no raises. Sorry, pal. You're not the only one struggling with money these days.
What do you think is happening in the private sector around the nation? My net revenue is down.
Do you have direct knowledge to what these "low paid government workers" actually make? I'm not being snarky, I'm curious what the rates are and in comparison to the private sector.
In CT we have CTSunlight.org | Home that pulls all public salary data and puts it into database form. Frankly it's exposed and you would THINK embarassed these people with their lavish salaries and benefits, but it's only made them smug and even more entitled in mind. Anything like that for NC?
I have followed the Register of Deeds office which has gotten better but still has people barely making 30K or below doing some fairly sophisticated tasks for their pay.
Maybe my reading comprehension isn't working well for me today, but I get the feeling that these raises have come to be expected (or demanded) and are not the result of job performance or merit. If that is the case, then no raises. Sorry, pal. You're not the only one struggling with money these days.
It is likely the manager will recommend a 2% across the board increase due to the lack of increases in the recent past AND because of the 1% increase in the employee part of health care. Add those together ant it's only a 1% increase which was explained that a merit increase doesn't work on a pool that small.
There was an article that doesn't match my numbers. I'm too lazy to find out why. The proposed budget will be released tomorrow so we'll have a much better idea about it then.
It's also possible that Harry Jones is trying to score points with employees by the proposal.
Jones proposes pay hikes for Mecklenburg County workers | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/27/2252551/jones-proposes-pay-hikes-for-county.html - broken link)
$30K is 2X the minimum wage plus they are getting gubment benefits as well. I'd say that is pretty good compared to many many people working in Charlotte. If they don't think they are getting paid what their sophisticated tasks are worth, they are always free to quit.
Jones isn't running a popularity contest with his employees. He is spending taxpayer money and has the responsibility to the taxpayers first. He is also free to leave if he doesn't like it. I'm thinking there wont' be a lot of crying if he did.
I have followed the Register of Deeds office which has gotten better but still has people barely making 30K or below doing some fairly sophisticated tasks for their pay.
Thanks for that. I wouldn't call it lavish if that's the case. I'm sure some will though.
Heck, in my current town/city we have cemetary maintenance workers literally making $65,000 a year plus benefits to basically mow grass, pick weeds and trim shrubs. Many managers and supervisors pulling down over 6 figures. It's borderline criminal. Yet some people here somehow think "you get what you pay for" and $5000-9000 a year for property taxes is no big deal apparently.
$30K is 2X the minimum wage plus they are getting gubment benefits as well. I'd say that is pretty good compared to many many people working in Charlotte. If they don't think they are getting paid what their sophisticated tasks are worth, they are always free to quit.
Jones isn't running a popularity contest with his employees. He is spending taxpayer money and has the responsibility to the taxpayers first. He is also free to leave if he doesn't like it. I'm thinking there wont' be a lot of crying if he did.
I'm not quoting anyone when I said what I said. It is me that thinks those particular people are underpaid for what they do not them.
What isn't fair though is that it doesn't matter how much better you work your job than the next guy there's no getting rewarded for it. Like you say, it's just the way it goes but if the system itself was more fair maybe we'd see more productivity for our collars.
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