Houston, we have a problem...

So, snow it did, all night and all day. I was thinking this is probably the longest snow storm that I have witnessed. Schools were closed, my husband worked from home but I still had to go to work this morning if I expected to get paid. They let out us a couple of hours early so that was good. At least I got to fishtail myself there and back in the daylight though visibility at times was still challenging.

Tomorrow there is a two hour delay for the schools. I know that people have to shuffle their children to school, blah blah blah but with the school day already shorter than the business day, why are weather issues a catastrophe for them when the rest of us still have to observe our regular hours. I had to quickly make arrangements for my children to spend tomorrow's two hour delay with others so that I can show up to work on time.

The private sector does not take kindly to the vagaries of the school schedule. I remember when my oldest was a toddler and there was little sympathy for me when I was late to work because of an issue with her or her care-giving. With the school year topping out at 180 days, that makes a full 16 weeks or 80 weekdays that the children are not in school where alternate care is required if you are a working parent.

Since we are decades past the need for children to work on the farm and children in all other countries study a lot longer than ours do and America and all people American are no longer the center of the universe and teachers get paid the same as the rest of us for 36 weeks of work and receive a decent lifetime pension and are still complaining that they are not paid enough and the tax dollars continue to fall short of public spending and all of these things continue to add to the imbalance of the current debt-ridden world...Houston, we have a problem.

Unions must help ease tax burden

The people who benefit most on Long Island are government officials & employees, school officials and teachers, and police officers. What do all of these people have in common? These are all positions that are supposed to serve the public good. Yet, these are now the highest paid people on average in Long Island. Yes the average private sector wages are now dwarfed by the average wages of all of these professions. In addition, public sector personnel are guaranteed cost of living increases and generous benefits regardless of the tax burden on the residents. Why? because these personnel are members of powerful unions whose political clout is legendary. No politician is willing to risk political suicide by treading on the “rights” of the unions.

Human resources – wages and benefits – are 60-70% of an organization’s operating expense be it a major corporation, government or quasi-government agency. We routinely hear of private enterprises cutting costs through attrition and as a last resort, layoffs. Yet, public agencies cannot effectively reduce their budgets (which in turn would reduce taxes) because they can never touch the most expensive part of the budget, union-protected wages and benefits. What’s left is cutting costs through the reduction of services, services that are very often popular and/or vital like when a school district threatens to cut art, music or sports. These savings of course are miniscule and can never offset the annual wage increases and perks stipulated by the unions. Yes, the unions are doing their job by protecting the wages and benefits of their members. However, it cannot be that those wages and benefits become a tax burden to the very people they are supposed to serve. The purpose of the union was to equalize the earnings of their public sector members in light of what they would be earning in the private sector, not to have earnings that are above and beyond the call of duty, literally.

The fact is we have to cut taxes. We have to think smart about how we are going to rein in these costs. Our elected officials must appeal to the unions to come to their senses for the public good by starting with some reasonable fixes. One is to have public sector workers contribute a greater portion of their health and retirement benefits just like those workers in the private sector. Every one from top to bottom with no grand-fathering could pay a percentage. If everyone active and retired paid a small percentage that would return millions to the public coffer for all to benefit – not some. Another painless solution is for unions to give greater leeway to public agencies to reduce personnel through attrition instead of demanding that those jobs remain on the books. We have to start somewhere.

Suffolk County Police Overpaid?

Steve Levy, Suffolk County Executive, published an editorial in The Smithtown News on May 8, 2008 in response to the Suffolk County Police union (PBA) propaganda that the County was placing the public in jeopardy by understaffing the police department. In this letter he put in the specifics of what Suffolk County police officers earn.

“It costs the county an average of $144,000 in wages and benefits (not including overtime and up to 12 percent in night differential pay) to place a single police officer on the street.

Police Officers get up to 89 paid days off a year, including five personal days, 26 sick days, up to 30 vacation days and 28 chart days. These paid days off do not include the 13 holidays.

The law enforcement contracts allow some individuals to collect up to $300,000 in unused sick, vacation days and other paid time upon their retirement.”

These numbers are outrageous. I know police officers have a tough job but these are suburban police officers, they are not working in a major city. Levy states that the PBA union has been getting its way in negotiations for decades and that these generous contracts have “made us one of the highest taxed regions in the nation. It is my intent to put a stop to these [contract] giveaways that have been crippling our local economy and forcing so many of our families off of Long Island.”

The PBA has run amok with its demands and claims. I certainly do not feel like the police department is understaffed. Everywhere I go I see plenty of Suffolk County police vehicles. Every time I pass a traffic accident these days, there are at least six to eight police cars responding and blocking the road. We cannot let unions like the police, teachers’ and others continue to gouge the public purse.

Public Sector Payrolls Getting too High?

The following excerpt is from the Newport News, Va., Daily Press reprinted in Newsday May 13, 2008:

Local government employees should tighten their belts, too
Once upon a time, government employees traded high salaries for job security, time off, and better health insurance and pensions. Now, they have it all, earning more on average than private-sector workers and getting regular raises, while workers in private enterprise have seen their earnings lag behind inflation.

Some local officials get their obligations confused, and dwell too much on preserving the jobs and salaries of local employees. Certainly, attracting and inspiring good public servants is vital, but the job of elected representatives is to deliver the best services at a price taxpayers are willing and able to pay. When elected officials put employees' interests before taxpayers' interests, payroll costs can push budgets — and taxes — so high they drive away the businesses and middle-class workers who provide the lifeblood of a locality's economy and work force.

That's the kind of thinking that threw Vallejo, Calif., into bankruptcy last week, the kind of thinking that it took New York City years, and massive bailouts, to recover from. It's the kind of thinking that's burdening taxpayers in many localities with excessive bills for payroll and benefits.

Government employees must be treated with fairness and respect. But their needs must be balanced with the larger mission of government, which is to provide needed services without breaking the taxpayers' financial backs.

This article makes many good points. And, if you don’t think this applies to Long Island, here is the data for Long Island from 2005:

The following excerpt is from a research bulletin by the Empire Center for New York State Policy 9/1/06

Average Annual Salary in 2005
New York State & Local Government v. Private Sector
Region	State Government	Local Government	State & Local Government	Private Sector
Long Island	$49,354.00	$52,682.00	$52,256.00	$43,161.00
Nassau	$52,567.00	$55,335.00	$55,194.00	$44,449.00
Suffolk	$48,652.00	$50,118.00	$49,837.00	$41,846.00

and the following conclusions:

• The region with the greatest differential between public and private salaries is the Mohawk Valley, where state and local government jobs pay 124 percent more than private-sector jobs, on average. The runner-up in this category is Long Island, where the average state-local salary is 121 percent of the average private-sector salary.
• The highest-paying local government jobs in New York State are found in New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley.

This is absolutely unsustainable for the rest of us in the private sector to bear. These public sector employees get job security, cost of living increases, generous sick and vacation days, generous health insurance benefits and in some cases vehicles, gas and cell phones. Not to mention the mother of all bonuses, pensions with lifetime benefits. We hear the same justification for their high salaries and benefits - how can they continue to provide these vital community services if they cannot afford to live on Long Island? If we continue to accept this argument, we in the private sector definitely won’t be able to afford to live on Long Island either.