In Your Corner

We would like to thank all of those that supported our call to protest the proposed Stormwater assessment - and the County Commissioners for unanimously defeating it. Following that action and the reductions in the 2010 budget it forced we hear and read that the County has cut expenses as far as it can without severely affecting essential services. This thought is often expressed when discussing revenue projections and the new Fire Service Assessment proposed for next year. Property values continue to decline and we are only 3 months from the property assessment (January 2010) used to determine the revenue from 2011 Ad Valorem taxes. Other tax collections have not significantly increased and the Fire/EMS budget will dramatically rise as the government grant for their 33 new personnel runs out and contractual pay increases kick in. All of these facts make it essential to take on this argument now.

The supposition is that, since the vast majority of all County operating budgets, especially the Fire/EMS (95+%), are made up of personnel costs, any further reduction in revenue will require increased/new taxes, or layoffs that will reduce essential services. We believe that this is a false choice. The solution is the TOTAL personnel cost that consumes over 85% of all of the operational budgets we have examined. Pay is not necessarily the issue, although there are certainly some excessive County salaries. However, the really expensive excesses are hidden in benefit packages that dwarf anything available in the private sector. These include generous retirement plans, overtime pay for management personnel, individual and family health coverage, automatic longevity pay increases, and accrued paid vacation, personal and sick days. The majority of these excesses occur in the Public Safety areas and most are guaranteed by union contracts that cannot be immediately renegotiated. There are areas, however, that should be quickly addressed, and the unions involved put on notice that the next round of negotiations will be different.

Retirement plans are largely dictated by the State, but work rules that invite overtime in the final years of those with high salaries can be adjusted. Also, Martin was the first, and may still be the only County that requires lifeguards to be fully qualified EMS paramedics, which automatically provides the same expensive hazardous-duty pay and retirement afforded Law Enforcement and other Fire/Rescue personnel. This allows retirement at 25 years service with 75% (90% at 30 years) of their highest 5 years pay (including overtime and other pay enhancements) and full family benefits.

Some higher health plan co-pays have been instituted by the County, but there are additional modifications that would save funds and not greatly affect employees. While there is justification for allowing vacation days to be saved for a limited period, personal and sick days should be used when necessary, not accumulated and/or turned into cash. Our first cursory look at the County’s 900 person banked time account shows over 50,000 hours (over 1000 work weeks – nearly 20 years) for just the top 10% (30 of 300) Fire/Rescue personnel. Grandfather those hours/days accumulated, but immediately stop the bleeding everywhere you can and bargain it out of future contracts.

In summary, we want to see a reduction in TOTAL personnel costs, not increased taxes or assessments. While some layoffs or furloughs may be necessary or even desirable, a better idea is to preserve the good employees required by reducing excessive benefits and automatic raises. We believe all government employees should receive a salary commensurate with their job and responsibilities - AND COMPARABLE WITH LOCAL CIVILIAN POSITIONS – INCLUDING THEIR BENEFIT PACKAGES.