Posted on 07/14/2012 3:34:46 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Miami city administrators say they can balance the city’s $485 million operating budget without raising taxes, but it involves winning $40 million in union concessions.
That may be easier said than done. Negotiations with the police union are stalling, Fraternal Order of Police President Armando Aguilar said.
“I didn’t close the door, but I told them my ultimatum: I’m not willing to give up what we gave last year, and not what they want this year,” Aguilar said.
Mayor Tomás Regalado said the city will likely have to declare financial urgency, a provision in state law that allows municipal leaders to unilaterally change employee contracts.
“It seems that they don’t have the appetite to even consider the concessions,” Regalado said. “That leaves no choice for us.”
Either way, the proposed budget is far more complete than it was last July, when staffers were still scrambling to crunch the numbers. Budget director Danny Alfonso plans to have this year’s proposal ready for city commissioners early next week, he said Friday.
The financial picture is brighter than a year ago. Revenues are up, thanks to an increase in property tax values and the number of people seeking building permits and other services from the city. The $485 million proposed budget represents a $2 million increase over last year.
Regalado won’t be recommending an increase in the overall tax rate.
Should the commission accept his proposal, the new rate would be $8.47 for every $1,000 of taxable assessed property value, down from $8.50 last year. The average homeowner would see a savings of $3.54.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
What does this say about public employees when the city government thinks there may be $40 MILLION in concessions that they may be able to give up? Even if they determine it is only $10 million, WHAT DOES THIS SAY?
Places that operate like this will always be left behind by places where the people are more economically savvy; these situations arise mostly in areas where the “consumers” of the services aren’t the ones PAYING FOR THEM (welfare reservations, illegal aliens bridgeheads into the country, etc.).
If the original problem doesn’t lie with public unions why does the solution always lie with public unions?
Here’s why it’ a union problem....
Still, city officials must fill a $60 million budget hole, a gap that exists because many of last year’s union concessions, such as the moratorium on new police cars, expired after one year. The city must also contribute more to its pension funds this year to offset a loss in revenue from investments.
In St Louis the Firefighter Disability payments alone consume half the firefighting budget. Firefighters on full disability are operating tree trimming businesses, pouring concrete, playing golf, playing softball, .... And yet the firefighter union is fighting the city on it tooth and nail to keep this corruption going.
Their image as heroes has turned to full tarnish. They are parasites who would rather see their host city go belly up rather than miss a meal. Once these parasites got a hold, they won't let go.
“...the city will likely have to declare financial urgency...”
That sure speaks volumes about cities’ lib-dem-run admins and public unions’ demands.
Thank you for that gem! Every organization has a few bad apples. But it seams to me that you are buying the MSM's attack on all the unions.
Yea, it's the unions fault this country is in the toilet. Good grief.
To serve and to protect... the union
A priviledge, not a right, except for us...
Sorry, I meant to address this to Cincinatus’ Wife
There was a report last night on "Special Edition" on how Obama (through HHS) is planning to, again, circumvent Congress and waive the "work requirement" of the Welfare Reform Bill that was passed and signed during Clinton's adm. Under the "work or prepare to work" heart of that bill, welfare dropped in half and child poverty dramatically dropped.
Now Obama wants money paid out with no requirement to seek work.
Call your congressman and senators.
I have “lumped” no one anywhere on this thread.
I am the spouse of “NoKoolAidforMe” and this is my first time posting on this great website.
I usually agree with what I read daily, but this statement just dumbfounds me.......
“Thank you for that gem! Every organization has a few bad apples. But it seams to me that you are buying the MSM’s attack on all the unions.
Yea, it’s the unions fault this country is in the toilet. Good grief.
****
I look at unions like a citizen looks at someone with the ebola virus. They are parasites, I have to agree with Freeper UC, but a “few bad apples”? The union members are not holding their leadership accountable. That’s my problem. I respect firemen and LEO’s but do NOT hold the public taxpayer hostage because your salary and pension dictates it.
Who cares about Miami
Because cities were stupid enough to practically give the unions all the wanted when times were good. Now that it's time to pay the piper pay and benefits for these same employees sometimes reach 80%-90% of a municipality's budget.
Not many other places to cut.
I, on the other hand, see this as endemic to all unions. Very, very few of the union leaders care about how they get their $$ and who they hurt in the process. And unfortunately the firefighters (police officers, bus drivers, hospital service workers, etc.) have learned from their leaders and now the rot is invading the rank and file, by those who are using the "disability" retirement fraudulently.
There is merit to your statement. I just feel that it is totally unjust to make blanket statements lumping everyone in a group or organization together because of a few dirt bags (parasites), is all.
The cities do not have the legal right to breach the contract mid-way because of financial difficulties. Difficulties, I might add, are generally due to fiscal malfeasance. These political “leaders” are distracting the citizenry with this tactic, and unfortunately, it is working.
There are several problems with public unions but IMHO they boil down to politics. The public union bosses provide the politician, local, state and national, two things the politician lusts after - money and manpower.
The money comes from the dues collected which first comes from the tax payer. This, again IMHO, causes no problems if the money moves between the political parties. But, as it has been reported many times it goes to and stays in one party - Democrat.
Manpower comes in two forms. Actual man-hours spent supporting a candidate. Again, I have no problem if the support moves between parties but it don't. The second form of manpower is block voting. While the ballot is supposed to be secret who out there wants to bet the farm on it?
With the power that public union officials wield I don't think there is a simple solution. Having said that I think the recent Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to contribute to political campaigns could be an excellent counter balance to the corrupting political power currently exercised by public unions.
“Perpetual unions are a bane on society in general”
Look around you, America has a middle class largely due to the “unions.”
I do agree that some (NOT ALL) are greedy as hell.
I agree that some (NOT ALL) are only out for themselves.
This problem goes deeper than your anti union stance. This is a systematic approach to destroy the unions thus destroying a very large percentage of the “middle Class” of this country.
Our “leaders” want a 2-class system.
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