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A massive reorganization is needed for sure, but there is nothing the county can do about the schools, nor is there anything they can do regarding the cost of the current public employees covered by current contracts. No use crying over spilt milk, just learn and move on.
Rant=On
Which to me would mean that the next crop of public sector (from town up to and including state) employees should make more of what’s in line with the local median salary (not household income) of similar area jobs in the public sector, minus a certain percentage for having better than average job security/benefits. Yes, this would mean newer employees making significantly less than the current batch.
That would go for administration jobs too (for the schools too). Stop this “We have to pay top dollar to attract good talent” argument. We’ll that’s been done and look what this “top talent” has done. Post the job and salary (of what the government entity can afford) and see who applies. I’m sure they’d attract enough qualified applicants who want a foot in the door in their specific field. Government jobs should not be the road to riches. If you want to make $400K as a school superintendent, go to a private school or college.
Nassau should also realize this is not just a local issue; it’s going on all over the country. Only in some other parts of the country, governments are actually making real cuts in their spending. It sucks to take away from people the things they have gotten used to having, but if you can’t afford to pay the bills you have now, you start cutting your spending, not keep spending the same amount of money, kicking the can further down the road, hoping that things are going to get better, but not doing anything about it.
The people of Nassau have to stop pretending that they can afford all of the things that they currently have. The cost of the “amenities” at the local, town, county and state levels in the last 25 years has obviously snowballed to a cost that is unsustainable at current government tax levels. The jump in “pretend wealth” from 2000 to 2008 didn’t help either. Tough choices have to be made by the people and local government on what they want/need the government to pay for and what they can afford in taxes.
(in parallel, this goes for schools too)
Or…taxes can be raised so all of the bills can be paid…
Rant=Off
Don't forget the #1 reason we cannot afford what we have. The reason we can't afford it is because of the demands of the public sector unions. If we didn't have to pay way more than necessary because they have a stranglehold on government labor and were free to hire like the private sector does, we would have a lot less budget problems.
Public service unions should be illegal in any entity that is more than 50% supported by taxpayers. It has been shown to be a disaster and one that the taxpayers cannot sustain. When dealing with private companies, labor unions have to at least negotiate based on accountability reality of what the private company can give them out of what profit the union employees help the private company make. With public sector unions, there is no accountability when making demands and all they want to do is raise taxes on the taxpayers.
Don't forget the #1 reason we cannot afford what we have. The reason we can't afford it is because of the demands of the public sector unions. If we didn't have to pay way more than necessary because they have a stranglehold on government labor and were free to hire like the private sector does, we would have a lot less budget problems.
Public service unions should be illegal in any entity that is more than 50% supported by taxpayers. It has been shown to be a disaster and one that the taxpayers cannot sustain. When dealing with private companies, labor unions have to at least negotiate based on accountability reality of what the private company can give them out of what profit the union employees help the private company make. With public sector unions, there is no accountability when making demands and all they want to do is raise taxes on the taxpayers.
This goes back to my statement that public sector employees and their unions should not be demanding salaries that are in line with the median household income (MHI) level of their areas, but in line with the median salary that similar private sector jobs pay for that area. As already pointed out by many, median household income is usually more that one income. The state of affairs today shows that the tax base can't support paying out the MHI for jobs because of claims that workers need to be able to afford to live where they work.
I bet you'd get a good answer on the CD forum that covers Erie County from the people who went through it. It's never happened here before and I am not familiar with the problems in Erie at all. They may be very different than ours AFAIK.
Ugh. Ordinarily I'm gung-ho about raising taxes but Nassau really needs to try and make do with what it takes in already. We need massive reorganization of our education, fire, police, water and local governments to eliminate waste and bring things more in line with other regional suburban communities that do just as well with far less. Sadly, this is likely never going to happen.
Mangano brought this on himself. He should have dumped the patronage people left over from Suozzi and reined in his own bloated bureaucrats.
These politicians make me sick, regardless of what party they belong to. They need to start with themselves, move on to their bureaucrats, get rid of patronage entirely, and then start whittling from the top down, instead of trying to stick it to the people who bust their butts actually doing the work of public service. Amazing what you could accomplish by cutting the salaries of administrators who make 300K+ a year for keeping a chair warm.
I was under the impression that the 2% tax cap does not cover school taxes, pensions, healthcare etc... I hope I read wrong..
Yes it will definitely affect school funding and current day spending that is why the Teachers Union is organizing a campaign to go after congressman on the boredr for reelection. Time to start calling and emailing your representatives with your thoughts.
Status:
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19,219 posts, read 17,088,442 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but
I bet you'd get a good answer on the CD forum that covers Erie County from the people who went through it. It's never happened here before and I am not familiar with the problems in Erie at all. They may be very different than ours AFAIK.
Did NIFA make a difference in Erie County when they took over? Were their changes extreem?..Just curious....
It was the Buffalo Fiscal Control Board in Erie County. They took control in 2003 and went from running deficits to surpluses but when they moved back to oversight from control Buffalo ran deficits again. The board froze contracts of all the unions, sanitation workers, teachers, just about every employee. They are city as is NY City so all the unions were under their control. There was also a control board put in place for NY City back in the 70's but I believe it was voluntary.
The teachers union actually took the control board to court in Buffalo when they froze their contracts but the union lost the case. They are still in place today
Its rather stunning that a wealthy county like Nassau can't control its finances any better than Buffalo.
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