Boom Time for Public Employees

[Jeannine Stergios]

Interesting article that has direct bearing on our recent discussions. yThis article backs up what Dennis is talking about.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl ... 00191.html

[Dennis King]

Thanks Jeannine,
There is a lot of evidence out there on this issue, sadly, not one of our TC seems interested in making any hard decisions.

Somehow, only government is the one place you could never cut. Yesterday I heard a news story that NYC pays over 100 teachers NOT TO WORK.

They are getting approximately $100,000/year to not work.

It seems these people were pedifiles but they could not be fired and they could not teach children so the government in its wisdom chooses to pay them not to work,,,,only in America.

You and I can be fired for any reason but a union worker, oh no, not gonna happen.

Boy those unions really help the people huh,,, here's to hope and change

[ronrobinson79]

Okay...Mr. King If being a union police officer, union Firefighter or Union Teacher is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great I tell you what. Sign up for the police or fire academy and go ahead and do it, i mean why not? you'll make $100,000 a year have "great medical benefits" you will have "no chance of being laid off" and you will be ontop of the world. I'm sure that being a town employee is not half as good as you make it out to be but it sounds like you really wish you were in on it.



Anyone disagree with me?

Let me know how it goes King Dennis

[Jeannine Stergios]

ronrobinson

You are wrong about Dennis. He is not attcking anyone. He is simply saying that we need to cut expenses because people can't afford to pay more than they are already paying. Instead you and your buddies decide to get on here and berate anyone who disagrees with you. Keep in mind that 16 teachers are losing their jobs and yet NOT ONE has come on here and acted the way you and your low-class buddies are carrying on and you're not even close to losing your job. So what is your problem?

You may not agree with what we say, but we have a right to say it.

[Jamie MacFarland]

Okay...Mr. King If being a union police officer, union Firefighter or Union Teacher is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great I tell you what. Sign up for the police or fire academy and go ahead and do it, i mean why not? you'll make $100,000 a year have "great medical benefits" you will have "no chance of being laid off" and you will be ontop of the world. I'm sure that being a town employee is not half as good as you make it out to be but it sounds like you really wish you were in on it.



Anyone disagree with me?

Let me know how it goes King Dennis

The issue for me is not the salaries. I certainly do not believe Police and Fire are overpaid in any way. It is the Lifetime State Pension Plans, with only 20 years of work, when most of the rest of us have only 401k's. On average the benefits are dirt cheap for Public employees, as the Town/State/Federal Govt picks up 90% to 100% of the cost, while the benefit cost for the rest of us continues to rise. I completely disagree with Dennis that Police/Fire departments are bloated. I do not believe they are at all. However, for you to think that, somehow, Public employees should be completely immune to layoffs and downsizing is absurd. In the real world, for the rest of us, this is happening every day. Something needs to give, or all States/Municipalities will either go bankrupt or tax their people to death, so you all can retire with 20 years of work.

[andysinnh]

The issue for me is not the salaries. I certainly do not believe Police and Fire are overpaid in any way. It is the Lifetime State Pension Plans, with only 20 years of work, when most of the rest of us have only 401k's. On average the benefits are dirt cheap for Public employees, as the Town/State/Federal Govt picks up 90% to 100% of the cost, while the benefit cost for the rest of us continues to rise. I completely disagree with Dennis that Police/Fire departments are bloated. I do not believe they are at all. However, for you to think that, somehow, Public employees should be completely immune to layoffs and downsizing is absurd. In the real world, for the rest of us, this is happening every day. Something needs to give, or all States/Municipalities will either go bankrupt or tax their people to death, so you all can retire with 20 years of work.

Let's all remember that the current budget committee's school budget has a proposed level of 17 reduction in headcount - so be clear that not ALL municipal employees are immune within Merrimack.....

[Civics_Junky]

This article is only a generalization of some larger cities....it does not back up anything regarding Merrimack, New Hampshire, as it delves into areas like New York and California...it does not mention New Hampshire, or give figures on New Hampshire employees...so I personally do not see how it backs up anything beyond generalizations. Our guys do not get to "vote for thier own raises", the voters in general do. Yes, most live in town, and do vote, but you are talking a small percentage compared to the town as a whole.

And I believe Mr. King is attacking the service personnel. He seems to be on a vendetta against the town employees, blaming them for his high taxes. It has nothing to do with the town employees, it has to do with the new schools and the ever increasing demands being put on the citizens of Merrimack through that venue.

[Tim Tenhave]

Hi Dennis,

You have stated the TC has not followed you lead on your ideas to reduce the size of Government and the budget.

Let me offer you my view on this so you can understand why I have not followed your lead:

1.) I believe our Public Safety employees contribute greatly to the piece of mind and quality of life that I and everyone enjoy here in Merrimack. From the Chiefs down to the special police officers and part-time fire fighters/EMTs, they all contribute to make Merrimack the Town I want to live in with my family, fiends, and now grand children. When I made the suggestion to the Council and Manager not to cut public safety back in October as we gave direction to the Manager on the budget, I did that because I believe the majority of the residents feel as I do. Simple for me. Dennis, we just disagree on this point and apparently the rest of the Council also disagrees with you on this.

I have done my homework. I have researched this issue and know that we don’t pay our pubic safety employees more than other similar towns and we don’t have more than other similar NH towns. We are clearly in the middle on this. I have done my homework on this issue just as any Councilor should do. I believe we have the right balance of public safety staff and the right balance in our budget for that staff.

4 cruisers at one police stop. Must have been necessary. I have no reason to think otherwise and have no plans to micro-manage that activity. As to the shifts and coverage our Police provide, I have looked into it in a past budget year and feel it is quite appropriate for our Town and the 170+ miles of roadway we have in Town.

2.) This Council has gone to great lengths to reign in the cost of benefits and balance that cost between the Town and our employees. This year we had 4 unions negotiating new contracts with us. Only 1 union has settled. The other 3 did not settle and therefore will go a year without a contract. The 1 union that did settle did not last year and went without a contract and pay increase. This 1 union will see no pay increases for 2 years.

The Council adopted a policy of merit based pay raises, reduces sick time, reduced holidays, reduced sick buy back, increased co-pay on health and dental insurance premiums, increased co-pay for office visits, increased co-pay for prescriptions. This was done for our non-union employees and is being held to our union negotiations. 1 union moved this year and 3 others chose to go without a contract. Next year, we will have 5 unions in negotiations. This Council has been very responsive to this issue this year and last.

The biggest change we have instituted is the idea of Merit based pay. For many unions they had Cost-of-Living-Adjustments (COLA) and Step raises. Well…that is gone for Town union employees as far as this Council is concerned. The “evergreen” clause (RSA273-A:12) makes the idea of COLA and Step raises a very BAD idea going forward.

3.) Personally I don’t believe the MYA wants or could in its present form run the Parks and Recreation Department. They would have to become a bureaucracy and that would mean overhead and in the end, I would rather the Town oversaw that activity than give money to an independent organization to do that function.

4.) Wasserman Park. You are right in saying the day camp was supposed to go away. That is what we were told when it was being sold to us. But after the sale, a Master Plan was done and the Town leaders at that time decided to keep the day camp. Now it exists because no one has actually come to the Town and asked to remove it formally. I have made every attempt to ensure it is revenue neutral to the tax payers. I believe it is now. If you want more access, you could talk with the new Master Plan committee or you could make an appointment with the Council and we can talk it out in public.

4.) When it comes to retirement system, that is an issue for our Governor and Legislature. The Council has done everything it can. The Retirement system is governed by State Law. Please write, email, and talk to our Governor and Legislators on this issue. We cannot change State Law.

5.) The 1 million dollar issue that keeps coming up for you. That issue did not cost you 1 penny. Not 1 penny, Dennis. There was an accounting mistake made that caused the Council to do two things. First was to watch much closer the spending in that year of the budget to ensure we did not spend more than we took in. And second it caused us to have a lower surplus in our general fund than we thought. The accounting mistake was in the amount in our surplus fund and never meant that we had to “tax” the people more to make up the shortfall. There was no sweeping under the rug. Everything was dealt with in public. Dave, Betty, Nancy, Finlay, Mike, Tom, and I made sure the issue was discussed very openly. This occurred before I joined the Council but was felt and dealt with in the year I joined the Council. If you have any questions on this, please email me with your questions.

Tim

[uscitizen03054]

Okay...Mr. King If being a union police officer, union Firefighter or Union Teacher is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great I tell you what. Sign up for the police or fire academy and go ahead and do it, i mean why not? you'll make $100,000 a year have "great medical benefits" you will have "no chance of being laid off" and you will be ontop of the world. I'm sure that being a town employee is not half as good as you make it out to be but it sounds like you really wish you were in on it.



Anyone disagree with me?

Let me know how it goes King Dennis

The issue for me is not the salaries. I certainly do not believe Police and Fire are overpaid in any way. It is the Lifetime State Pension Plans, with only 20 years of work, when most of the rest of us have only 401k's. On average the benefits are dirt cheap for Public employees, as the Town/State/Federal Govt picks up 90% to 100% of the cost, while the benefit cost for the rest of us continues to rise. I completely disagree with Dennis that Police/Fire departments are bloated. I do not believe they are at all. However, for you to think that, somehow, Public employees should be completely immune to layoffs and downsizing is absurd. In the real world, for the rest of us, this is happening every day. Something needs to give, or all States/Municipalities will either go bankrupt or tax their people to death, so you all can retire with 20 years of work.

Jamie I am with you sir! The salary of our employees should be competitive in the local market however, raises during these most difficult economic times must be postponed.

Finally, I do agree, we cannot afford to fund the current benefit packages and retirement system. Unless something is done soon, we will cross the Rubicon and our tax rate will be prohibitive for most Merrimack residents.

[joe179]

Tim,

For me it is comforting to know that some of our town officials post on this forum to clarify certain situations and also notify us of important town events.

Thank you for your candid post which was based totally in facts - not innuendo!

[TonyRichardson]

The Council adopted a policy of merit based pay raises, reduces sick time, reduced holidays, reduced sick buy back, increased co-pay on health and dental insurance premiums, increased co-pay for office visits, increased co-pay for prescriptions. This was done for our non-union employees and is being held to our union negotiations. 1 union moved this year and 3 others chose to go without a contract. Next year, we will have 5 unions in negotiations. This Council has been very responsive to this issue this year and last.

Tim

Is there a document somewhere we could see about this policy that contains the numbers that the change represents?
Also knowing any caps would be informative as well.
I am far more interested in the basic numbers rather than the dollar cost. i.e holidays changed from Xdays to Ydays, Co-Pay percentage from X% to Y%

[Concerned]

Why is anyone devoting any time to responding to King Dennis.

His posts do nothing more than give me a headache.

King Dennis - you are obviosly miserable living in Merrimack - so MOVE to your desired Shrangli-La.

[Civics_Junky]

Thank you for doing your homework, Tim! Very informative.

[Jeannine Stergios]

Tim

Thanks for the information. I know you are all trying to do the best you can. I rarely have problems with the town budget. I am more concerned with the school budget. I saw you that you attended the School Budget meeting the other night and I commend you for really trying to understand the needs of the town vs the economic situation we find ourselves in.

[Missy B]

Tim,

Although I don't attend the meetings, I watch them on TV. I have to commend you too not only on all the work you are doing on behalf of the Town but also your comments on the forum.