...the strategy will seek to refinance several existing long-term bond debts to create millions in savings through 2012, taking advantage of low interest rates.
[snip]
With reserves now largely depleted, Anderson has said the city should brace for a budget “tens of millions” less than recent ones.
Hey, why not just take out a second mortgage, since the rates are so low?
Other related articles in the same paper from the same search results page:
Tacoma’s $30 million gamble on union cooperation
City of Tacoma officials, bracing for a sizably smaller budget, are betting big on their ability to hold the line on city employee wages. Experien... read entire article
Pierce County pay raises: They’re complicated
Pierce County government workers pay rose by nearly one-quarter from 2005 to 2009, far faster than inflation or private wages during the same perio... read entire article
Union rejects City of Tacoma's contract offer, raising specter of budget repercussions
A key part of Tacoma City Manager Eric Andersons 2011-12 budget proposal presented last month to the City Council hinged on a big assumption: That,...read entire article
City of Tacoma to freeze wages, cut 79 jobs under budget proposal
Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson delivered a budget proposal to the City Council on Tuesday that would eliminate 79 vacant city positions and free... read entire article
Tacoma city manager talks wage freezes, other options with labor officials
Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson met with labor union officials Monday to detail budget woes facing the city and talk about dire prospects for cit... read entire article
Contract talks 'tough' for all
Contract talks between Gov. Chris Gregoire's labor office and the largest union representing general-government workers have hit roadblocks that ar... read entire article
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For those in Rio Linda, Tacoma, WA, is another liberal haven just south of Seattle (King County, famous for "finding" as many bags of votes as needed to elect Queen Christine Gregoire in the recounts against Dino Rossi in his first run against her) and where activists trying to assure a fair vote count several years ago were physically thrown out of the building by police from where the Pierce County Auditor's staff were (as they admitted) "RE-marking" ballots after an election.
Chicago/Cook County on the Puget Sound.
The actual headline in the print edition of the TNT was something like "City Manager takes raise while advocating wage freeze for employees." I'm sure the TNT heard from the powers that be in the Tacoma politburo and toned down the heads on all their online articles, since they couldn't recall all the print copies to fix it.
By the way, the TNT is only slightly to the center of the WaPo and NYT, trailing only behind the Seattle Times and Seattle PI as leftist propaganda tools.
Just like Beck showed on his show yesterday: The only people getting salary increases since Obama came into office are those working government jobs.
1,000 at the current $235k/yr
Probably 1,000 at $150K/yr
Probably 1,000 for $100k/yr
Probably 1,000 for $75k/yr, and
probably 1,000 for $50K/yr
Because there are 1,000 local qualified executives out of work.
This city manager is thusly overpaid when considering market conditions.
No city manager is worth that much. The city council needs to be voted out.
Waiting for the socialist shills to make the point that it only means pennies per person in taxes so it's no big deal.
The people of Tacoma must do what they did in Bell, CA. You can get rid of these extortionists. Misappropriation of funds is good for some hefty jail time.
Tacoma, WA: “City of Destiny” (assuming, of course, that your destiny is to be killed in a drive-by shooting).
That is outrageous. It would be nice, but it’s not as if the citizens can expect govt employees to do the honorable thing and scream, “Hey, we’re getting paid too much! Let me get out my checkbook and pay you back; I’m sure my wife won’t care, but I’ll check when she’s back from her shopping spree.”
The citizens are going to have to revolt and rein these people in.
Don’t know about recently, but found an article that had Tacoma’s unemployment rate in March at 10.3%. It’s probably down to “only” 9% now, hence the raise.