Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
$3.2B benefits IOU draining Boston coffers
The Boston Herald reports:
A staggering $3.2 billion IOU to pay off health and other benefits lavished on city worker unions has come due in Boston as the city grapples with a budget crisis that’s raising fears of massive layoffs and service cuts and even tax hikes for Hub residents and businesses.
The huge payout - much of it incurred during the 15-year tenure of Mayor Thomas M. Menino - is forcing the city to more than double its spending on benefits over the next five years, to $220 million, or roughly one-tenth of its current $2.4 billion budget
“It’s the 500-pound gorilla no one wants to address,” said Sam Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. “But in every budget going forward, this will be an issue.”
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
New Jersey Government Workers Making 100K: A Growth Industry
APP reports:
It's an elite club with a mushrooming membership: state employees paid more than $100,000 a year in salaries.
The club nearly doubled in size — to 4,422 members — from April 2006 to April 2008, according to an Asbury Park Press review of state payroll data.
And while the number of state workers dropped from 84,627 to 79,982, or 5.5 percent, their salaries grew to nearly $4.9 billion, or 5.7 percent.
The average compensation for all state employees — those in the executive, legislative and judicial branches — rose from $54,236 to $60,666 in two years.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
'F' FOR BARACK'S SCHOOL FIX
The New York Post reports:
Chicago's former schools chief has flunked the education foundation headed by Barack Obama and founded by 1960s terrorist Bill Ayers - saying it failed to monitor projects and funded school "reform" groups that campaigned against boosting academic standards.Imagine that.
"There was a total lack of accountability. If you went back and asked, you'd be hard-pressed to find out how the money was spent," said Paul Vallas, the city's school superintendent when Obama chaired the Chicago Annenberg Foundation from 1995 to 1999.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Moonlighting Cook County docs raise questions
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
For the emergency-medicine chief at Cook County-owned Provident Hospital, that full-time job isn't enough.
Dr. Pierre Wakim also owns Emergency Room Care Providers, a physician-staffing firm that has a $900,000 contract to run Holy Cross Hospital's emergency room on the South Side, and Score Tennis & Fitness Center in Countryside.
How does he manage? Wakim says his wife and business partner, Dr. Karla Wakim, runs the tennis club and, with a consultant, handles staffing decisions at Holy Cross -- while also keeping up a private practice in Willowbrook.
To earn his $304,000-a-year county salary, Wakim figures he puts in "40 to 60 hours per week'' at Provident.
The Cook County Health and Hospital System takes his word for that. County doctors are required to "swipe in" to prove they showed up for work -- but they don't have to swipe out.
Chicago Buyout bonanza for some short-time city workers
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
When Mayor Daley offered buyouts to nonunion city workers to fight a gaping budget deficit, some short-timers on the city payroll were able to cash in on a pretty good deal.
Any active, full-time, salaried, nonunion, civilian employee qualified for a minimum $12,000 payout -- regardless of how long they'd been on the city payroll. A few workers left with a payout of nearly half their annual salary -- after less than a year on the job.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Bankrupt Calif. City May Be a Harbinger
The Washington Post reports:
When this city of 120,000 declared bankruptcy in May, the extraordinary step appeared to arise from an extraordinary circumstance: Vallejo's payroll largess. Police captains in this blue-collar town north of San Francisco make more than $200,000. The city manager's $338,000 salary is more than that of the vice president or anyone on the Supreme Court.You'll want to read the whole article.
"I think it's fair to say everybody's here because the wages and benefits are very good," said city Finance Director Bob Stout, with a tight smile.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Chicago's Garbage Crews: No One Works a Full Day
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Workers on Chicago’s garbage pick-up crews spend about two hours a day loafing on the clock, according to a report released today by the city’s inspector general.Amazing.
Between May and September, investigators for Inspector General David Hoffman spied on 77 garbage truck drivers and 145 laborers in 10 wards. They reported what they called "systemic, pervasive" waste and fraud.
In 10 weeks of surveillance, they "did not see a single laborer doing a full day’s work," according to the report.
"The investigators found a remarkably consistent pattern throughout all the wards," the report said. "Although the crews were well paid to work 8 full hours a day, on average they only worked less than six hours a day."
Assuming the same work habits by employees throughout the city, the report calculates that loafing on city garbage crews costs $14.3 million a year in lost wages. Add in worker benefits and equipment, and the loss grows to more than $20 million.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Why do Chicago and Mayor Richard Daley,and Alderman Burke face $420 million budget shortfall?
The Chicago Tribune reports:
In a metro area where the median private-sector wage is less than $17 an hour, union city jobs not only offer security, but also the pay and benefits that are becoming increasingly rare outside government.
The generous wages and benefits given to many in the roughly 38,000-strong municipal workforce amount to 80 percent of the cost of running the city's government, making it impossible to significantly cut the budget without reducing personnel costs.
Those expenses are only going up since Daley agreed last year to a 10-year contract with dozens of labor unions. The deal guarantees continued pay increases that far outstrip inflation.
Take for instance the city's hoisting engineers, members of clout-heavy Local 150. Their top hourly wage of almost $44 an hour has risen from $37.50 in three years.
Local 150's city contract also allows for double time for any work over eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week.
They and other blue-collar workers, such as laborers, get 12 sick days a year, which they can carry over to future years if not used, in addition to 12 paid holidays.
If a relative dies, members of the biggest trade unions get three paid days off—rising to five if the funeral is held out of state.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Mass. Asks About Federal Loan Amid Market Worries
Fox News reports:
The treasurer of Massachusetts has asked the federal government about lending Massachusetts money under the same favorable terms it has given banks and firms during the financial crisis.You'll want to read this one.
Treasurer Timothy Cahill's requests to the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston this week were prompted by the state's inability to borrow from the short-term debt markets, The Boston Globe reported Saturday. The financial turmoil has caused credit markets to stop lending, or to charge prohibitive rates.
California has made a similar request, saying it would run out of money by the end of the month if the short-term debt markets do not ease. The state asked whether it could not obtain loans from the Fed.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
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