This really frosts my ass. The city is giving pay raises to management. Alright, I'm an old guy and remember when working for government wasn't the cherry-job it is today with benefits and sick time and hospitalization and all the bennies. Today, if you have a government job, you're set! This isn't right at a time when many can't find jobs and when they can, have to flip hamburgers at Mickey D's. This doesn't set a good appearance for the city, when not too long ago, it was scrambling to pay the bills. Not the right time for government pay raises!
http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/10/22/Bell-raises-salaries-of-55-top-administrators.html
City pay raises
Comments ... #
I would imagine if everyone took 2% cut they could afford to add several positions at the same rate.
posted by Linecrosser on Oct 22, 2012 at 05:14:31 pm #
Yeah, I usually try to give the benefit of the doubt, like the Chevy Tahoe. If I, as a citizen have a nice car for when company comes to town, I suppose the Mayor should have one too. I also have no problem with travel to promote the city, especially when the actually close the deal.
But $75,000 plus for people who run departments like mowing, and three deputy mayors at $92,000 a pop is excessive.
Why three deputy Mayors again?
Pete said: Today, if you have a government job, you're set!
Correction: this should read "Today, if you have a politically connected government job, you're set!" Technically I am a state employee (I teach college at a state university), and I have not had a raise on my job in three years. I received a 2 percent merit raise my first year, then the money dried up (and contract talks started, but that is another story).
The administration offered faculty what amounts to about a 6 percent pay cut (0%, 0%, 1%, and 2% raise for four years, coupled with big jumps in employee contributions to health care and a cut in summer teaching and overload pay), and this of course does not take into account inflation. This is on top of a 40 percent hike in employee contributions to retirement, though at least I might see a pension some day from that outlay.
While some cronies of politicians are indeed getting hefty hikes, remember that for most government workers, the past 4-5 years have been pretty anemic, not to mention that local, state, and federal governments have cut staffing through layoffs and/or attrition.
I love my job, and other than the hosing by the proposed contract, I have no beefs, but I am a million miles away from being "set." Heck, at this rate I will be working until I am 80 or so just to be able to enjoy a few years of retirement.
posted by historymike on Oct 22, 2012 at 05:41:00 pm # 2 people liked this
Or... maybe I should get a city job, since the mayor seems to be tossing around cash like a cult member with religious pamphlets at the airport.
posted by historymike on Oct 22, 2012 at 05:43:16 pm # 2 people liked this
Population has decreased in Toledo, median income is down, foreclosures are up - but hey, let's shell out more money so Bell can give his $92,000 per year administrators more money. A bunch of BS. With the levies on the ballot this November seeking new money for wages and salaries, yeah, government jobs come out smelling like a rose. Where do I sign up.
posted by bikerdude on Oct 22, 2012 at 05:44:25 pm # 2 people liked this
If anyone had any doubt that Mayor Bell is a liar like every other politician in this godforsaken political hell, this should make it obvious. When he first brought this issue to the fore, he claimed it was not because he had immediate plans to increase pay. Suddenly, "raises for everyone!!"
posted by MoreThanRhetoric on Oct 22, 2012 at 06:06:44 pm # 1 person liked this
If this doesn't signal the end of the media holiday handed The Mayor when he took office, nothing will.
He should feel the flames all the way up into his office.
posted by Linecrosser on Oct 22, 2012 at 08:52:40 pm #
Linecrosser posted at 08:52:40 PM on Oct 22, 2012:
He should feel the flames all the way up into his office.
He won't feel any flames. If he starts feeling warm in his office, he can just walk over and turn on the shower Czarty put in.
posted by anonymouscoward on Oct 22, 2012 at 10:47:56 pm # 1 person liked this
Pete,
Hopefully to further voice your protest, you and every other Toledoan votes against every levy request.
Mike Bell has been a bureaucrat his entire working life. As mayor he has greatly increased fees and taxes in order to feed the army of other Toledo bureaucratic pigs.
posted by 6th_Floor on Oct 22, 2012 at 11:53:46 pm # 2 people liked this
Didn't he actually work as a real fire fighter at some point?
posted by Linecrosser on Oct 23, 2012 at 01:37:17 am #
Yeah, he obviously was a paramedic or firefighter before he went into management.
As a mayor he has spent far too much of his time raising fees and taxes.
i am going to hop a soap-box today:
deputy mayor is not an official title... they are made up to make them sound more important.
for 40 years now local government officials have recognized that the easiest way for a short easy career with decent pay and great life-long benefits (and the ability to double dip at a young age through jobs they create or find through their government jobs) - that is why so many politicians hand these position down through generations in family. the whole A team-B team fight was about different groups of democrats getting their years in and earning the highest possible salary to max-out their retirement income (based on three highest years).
i am a pretty far left dem but i have to say... it is very easy for politicians to just keep getting re-elected here... just give the unions everything they want. policy be damned; good governance be damned. look at the pols that have been around the city and then the county for the last 15, 20, 25 years or more... they are the ones who have caused toledo to fail AND at the same time they have been padding their wallets on a city that votes knee-jerk for the same names. believe me, i want democrats to win; just not the ones we have (maybe 2 or 3 out of the entire lot).
mayor bell is part of the system and playing the same game; it is all about his retirement and that of the group of people that support him. in recent years with the terrible economy, they have had to put out some fires and appear to getting fiscal matters in order, but in reality they are propping up their friends salaries (they only need three good years to base retirement on) while cutting services and raising taxes and fees.
these last 8 years of terrible cuts in toledo were known to be coming which is why so many city elected officials became county officials... they wrote the city contracts 10 - 20 years ago and knew bad times were coming for the city... they did not have to get their hands dirty in the austerity of job cuts and cuts in services but they did create the circumstances by giving what they knew were overly generous benefits and retirements in exchange for endorsements, campaign contribution, and votes.
progressive toledoans really need to band together outside the confines of the current democratic party and elected officials to create a good governance wing of democrats. exported jobs over-seas that abuse low-pay workers often child-labor, environmentally unsound manufacturing, stealing intellectual rights, etc is the basis for the problems in the USA and around here in particular... having said that - while the remainder of blue and white collar jobs in the USA are losing benefits and real income, we can not have our employees, government workers, retain benefits that almost none of us get anymore... it just doesn't make sense. defined benefits and no medical contribution would be ideal from EVERYONE... but if everyone can't get them, certainly our employees in government should not.
when the contracts were written nobody represented the best interest of tax-payers... only the interests of the government employees and the re-election of politicians was represented.
we need new people to step forward and challenge our pols (and the people propping them up)... pols who have really let us down.
posted by enjoyeverysandwich on Oct 23, 2012 at 09:08:26 am # 7 people liked this
I said it before and I'll say it again. Those administrators job is to "run" Toledo. The city is in the toilet, so why the hell should they get a raise?
BTW; enjoyeverysandwich, great post!
Bravo enjoyeverysandwich!
I hope more Toledo-far-left-dems and others wake up and realize that you are speaking the absolute truth.
I'm pretty sure "deputy scammer" Shirley Green is a double-dipper. She retired from Toledo Police as a Lieutenant.
i do want to make clear; i don't blame the unions for asking for the benefits... i blame the politicians who granted those benefits even after seeing the numbers/projections and knowing it would bancrupt the city. it is made worse by an electorate that will not hold elected official accountable
posted by enjoyeverysandwich on Oct 23, 2012 at 12:01:25 pm #
Yep you got what you asked for imho.
posted by Linecrosser on Oct 23, 2012 at 01:17:39 pm #
Why doesn't the Republican Party run decent candidates against these entrenched incumbents? Most of the local pols up for reelection do not have opponents.
As for Mayor Bell that is one vote I wish I could take back.
posted by jackie on Oct 23, 2012 at 02:24:59 pm # 1 person liked this
I agree Jackie, I want better Democrats but you need better Republicans too...
posted by SensorG on Oct 23, 2012 at 02:41:27 pm # 2 people liked this
Why doesn't the Republican Party run decent candidates against these entrenched incumbents?
1.) Stainbrook, Jon (chairman)
2.) In 2012, a party that puts up this piss-poor excuse of a website is not serious about putting decent candidates in the field.
This is the second time I've linked to their site, and each time I'm amazed. To borrow a few curse words from my friend AC, how in the blue fuck are you going to persuade people to try your candidates if you provide absolutely no goddamn information? I'll even take campaign propaganda over nothing.
Inexcusable.
posted by oldhometown on Oct 23, 2012 at 02:55:18 pm # 3 people liked this
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