Monday, December 7, 2009
What will they do when the time comes?
Detroit Area Municipal Officials Take Pay Cuts.
The Detroit Free Press (12/7, Hall) reports, "Some municipal officials in metro Detroit are taking voluntary pay cuts to help their communities weather the economic storm, and more could follow suit. Livonia's mayor and council members were among 31 city employees who agreed to take a 5% pay cut Tuesday," and "combined with voluntary furloughs by 69 other employees, the city hopes to save a little more than $67,000 last fiscal year and about $213,000 this fiscal year." Meanwhile, "Grosse Pointe City Manager Peter Dame is taking a $5,381 pay cut plus trims in perks with the fiscal year starting July 1. In Milford, planning commission and zoning board authority members halted $25-per-meeting stipends this year, saving about $4,000, village officials said." These "municipal officials making voluntary cuts are joining Oakland, Macomb and Wayne county officials."
Will our locals take such a cut when or if our budget tightens, to relieve some of the pain the tax-payers are feeling? While no one likes to get less, there is a good case that just having a job is a big deal these days... What have you to say?
Roger A. Leonard, MPA
Suffolk...
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As long as municialities have the ability to forcably take property they will continue unabated. The one and only means is by voting. Public schools have done an outstanding job dumbing down their students regarding ethics, government and the fundementals of democracy. They are creating a national apathy that is reflected in the federal, state and local government we so rghtfully earned. The sadest aspect is voters failing to realize the most important election impactng their wallet is the local election.
Only when the lights go out, the grocery store shelves are empty and the check fails to appear in the mailbox will it be the time when change is realized. God help us and may you have ample ammunition to defend yourselves.
You have to be kidding me? There is no honor in this city and its leadership. They are too busy handing out bonuses to city employee's and high fiving. Every last one of them ... the Mayor and city council are a target for re-call ... starting with Linda's Man Parr. We shouldn't even wait for the next election. Tea Party team unite ... lets get the New Year started out right and start the process by recalling Parr and force a special election. We can deal with the rest of the dirt bags in the spring. Its time to take the undertaker down because he consistently votes to increase our taxes. Committed and Serious, An Unhappy Taxpayer
I love the "sacrifice" made by municipalities. Furloughs and reduced work days are mere short term fix that ignores the fact the recession will be long term. Our indecisive City Manager has not one shred of understanding about crisis management. She'll trim a little here or there for appearance but the problem remains and festers. UVA Graduates that are career government workers never make decisions they let other do it for them and then take the credit. I do like her new SUV and Mercedes.
The problem is not only taking out an incumbent. The new councilman is easily corrupted or quickly undermined by those well tainted from their past dealings. Money moves mountains of garbage in Suffolk.
The way suffolk is run is deplorable. The mayor is a joke and parr is someone I would not drop a bucket of spit on if he was on fire.
This has got to change. We can not afford such incompetent managers. And speaking of managers, the city manager is the worst thing that has ever happened to suffolk. she is determined to run the city into the ground by her continued indecisive manner and poor performance. she nods as the mayor and council demands, but is a farce in all other actions. she take a big raise and then devises a means to take even more by a bonus for all, where she gets the biggest bonus and out mayor and parr just look on.
If anyone out there is going to run against parr this next year you can count on me and a bunch of others to help you beat him. he needs to go!
GREAT SITE!!!!!!
Well at least in Suffolk you know who the bad guys are. Here in Norfolk they slid around and you never know. I have met your mayor once and felt that she was about as bad as it gets. She seems to be all out for the mighty buck and would sell everyone down the river to get it. Don't count on her to take any pay cuts, she would cut someone's throat to get a dollar! She had your City Manger in tow and I was thinking after talking to them for a few moments that that the Mayor had a hand puppet as the city manager. The manager was dazed and clearly under the absolute control of madame mayor.
Good luck with all that out there in the boonies in Suffolk!
With the economy dropping hard for most of us, it seems fair that the bonuses, benefits and high pay for the many highly paid city staff must fall, at least some. I have not had a pay increase for five years and my hours have been cut to less than thirty hours a week, so don't tell me how under paid the city staff are.
If they raise taxes at all without first cutting pay of city staff it will be a real issue for me and many other of my neighbors. I also have met the Mayor many times during the last year mayor campaign. I voted for her and now regret that so much I can not say! She has been a great disapointment to me and to many others since she seems only to approve of a bad City Manager's work and even a past city manager has said that she was doing underhanded deals on condos, so what can you say about that?
I can only hope that the big sallaries downtown are cut back and they feel a little bit of the pain we are all feeling. The example of the manager is the worst as she has feathered her nest with big car allowances, perks and pay over $125,000 a year. This is obsurd and wrong and must change now!
I somehow doubt that anyone on the public payroll will be willing to take any cuts. And with a Mayor and council so self-absorbed in padding their own pockets and political accouts there is little to expect that they will demand for such cuts. If they were ging to support any cuts it would already ahve been done rather than giving the bonuses away already. THERE WILL BE NO CUTS!
I have been here for years and expect that they will do as they have always done, NOTHING!
I have to admit that I have never said anything about it in the past, but I am ashamed of how our Town of Suffolk is run. We have a city manager that is absent of mind and action and a mayor who want to pocket every dime she can get and a council that follows that lead. Suffolk used to be a quaint and family oriented Town, but now it is nothing more that a wharehouse stop on the way to the Norfolk and Portsmouth Ports. I live along Route 58 Holland Road and feel that the Mayor and especially my Councilman Gardy and his friend Parr have sold our futures down the drain. What a group!
I live in and love Suffolk, but I am ashamed of our leaders! Inside Suffolk is a bright spot in may day and you people keep up the good work!
This responds to almost laid-off. You might think the city did not raise our taxes but .... Cup Cake ... your frosting is melting. City council voted to raise the mill rate from 88 cents per hundred dollars to 91 cents in May and told all of us what a good deal they have given us. The Suffolk Socialist City Council (SSCC) after abusing taxpayers, decided unilaterally ...just like every other socialist government to redistribute the income to someone else rather than returning it to property owners in Suffolk who are footing the bill. I personally hold Czar Johnson, and Prince Charles Parr at the root of this problem. Let's quit being ripped off by these socialists and start re-calling them! Teabaggers unite ... let's start the New Year off right and take back our city with a re-call. An Informed and Unhappy Taxpayer
The only way to change the direction of the city is to change those leading it.
Next year, there will be races for city council and school board in the Holy Neck, Cypress, Suffolk and Chuckatuck Boroughs.
Let's replace Chuck E. Cheese (Parr) with say...Tom Powell?
Barlow will probably retire. Hopfully Mike Duman will take that seat.
Gardy can be defeated. We all know about the Holy Neck Hoax. What about Calvin Jones? Could he make a political comeback?
Cypress is well, Cypress. Hard for anyone to defeat Brownie.
When a business is in debt they will often layoff people. Does the
federal government, state or local goverment ever layoff people? So much for taking pay cuts as well.
History teaches us that whenever government ignores it's duty, abandoning responsibility of their constituents and abusing authority for personal gain, there is a violent reaction that follows. It is never the passive election process but a fierce struggle between the have's and have not's. We may not be at that stage but indeed it is fast approaching.
We need a full house cleaning as called for by many on this forum. We all need to rally together or as they ahve shown us in the past they will grab the seats when the music stops and then will have control of our city and money. This last election where the mayor ran against five fools is a good example. Select one good person and run them against any incumbent you see and vote the idiots off council and then you will get some reasonable change. Isolate the mayor from those who will vote her way and then the ripe-offs will stop and we may even ahve an open government. We all must stand together or we will surely hang seperately!
Duman? oh heck no, he is already serving the city in one public capacity. Besides I question his judgement because of other legal issues he has been involved in. He too is a protected one.
Think of Two America's. John Edwards ring a bell?
New World Order. Skillary Clinton Clang Clang goes the trolley.
Think of Two America's. John Edwards ring a bell?
New World Order. Skillary Clinton ring a bell?
Clang Clang goes the trolley.
Hangman has a handle on it. Beware however the incumbent may try to delude the effectivness of the challenger by adding another shadow candidate to increase the competition. Also remember that every city constitutional officer is bought and paid for by the incumbents. They have money, connections and time on our tab to politic. Obtaining support from the local media is a lost cause, even they know that. The real issue is money the life blood of an election. Cut off the money from the incumbent and they must call in every favor they're owed and level the playing field. Mayor Johnson would be tough nut to crack as she is well connected to the Democrat machine in the Southside. Lots of favors means lots of money!
In 50 years people will look back at this time in Suffolk and ask, why were the citizens so stupid to take the inept government they have suffered for the last several years. There will be no answers other than they were lazy and hid their heads so as not to see what was going on. The highly paid are not bad people, but they will never take a pay cut on their own accord. With the budget under the squeeze as more and more tax income to Suffolk falls as the economy faulters, where will they go but to our pockets? Lookout for a bad year to come and plan to pay more to live in our beloved city.
Anticipate new fees, charges and taxes from the city as they de-emphasize property taxes. Environment tax, and gas tax will be considered. I hope they also consider a Realtor and Funeral Home Director registration fee.
In 50 years from now the people of uffolk will be living in communal housing, as government workers living modest lives. Rememering the good old days.
This is a very interesting tread and comments about our little town. I am a new comer to Suffolk and read IS a lot. From what I have seen we have a real problem with our mayor and council here is Suffolk and that need to be fixed. I have not met the Mayor yet, but after meeting Mr. Parr the other day I am afraid where my new town is going. He is the most arrogent person I believe I have ever encountered. My wife and I just bought a place near downtown and we will not support him in his relection for sure as many have called for. I assume that the others are as problimatic as he given the comments on IS.
If we had known tha issues as well as we do now, we may not have chossen to buy near downtown and bought up in the Portsmouth or North Suffok Area.
Just call me, TOO LATE!
Will the city manager give up her big car allowance? Where could she go that would cost so much anyway? Does padding your pay come to mind? And the thing is the Mayor and her henchmen approved of all this!
Why would anyone believe that the Mayor would not support these things if it served her needs at the time? She has made alot from her political activities and will make more and that is as she sees it should be. So why not give out a little of your money to grease the skids, so to say? It does not cost her anything, only you and me. The person to be most disapointed in is big councilman par. He knows better than anyone that the levels of spending are just wrong and that the big salaries are not justified. But can anyone expect him to go against the mayor when he might need her in the next election? He will have much to answer for, but who will ask and who will run against him when the time comes?
Just look to the gripes of the School workers to see the fact that those on the public dole will never give a nickle back volunterily. They take be cause they can and it will continue. The only way to turn it back is for council to stop it, but that will never happen as they pad their bets by giving in to keep votes and their seats. A real problem with both ends closed. The only option is to demand a change to the cycle of giving our money away.
Suffolk where there is a cap for sucess and no cap for failing: SB Mayor and council are good examples
Yes, Detroit has many problems as well as Suffolk and all of them can be linked back to failed liberal policies.Taking cuts in pay arent going to help Detroit or Suffolk Look anywhere where the Democrats and liberals have been in control for more then 20 years and you will see a landscape littered with shattered dreams and a rot like that of dead carrion in a tropical environment.
The liberal mind set such as the council has presently, its their thinking that its time to let the old Suffolk to die. Many are in favor of this happening and cant wait until the city implodes upon itself. Its not the downtown that is the problem, its the past and present adminstration. The mayor and the council prefer to promote
the north end and have selectivley "zoned" too many acres not for expansion except for certain types of business's. In the process they have created a depressed real estate market in downtown so to promote the northern end. Why not the southern eastern and western parts of the city?What they have done is no better than what the Russians did with Berlin They divided it and so has this adminstration and past adminstrations.It is a shame that this once good and proud city has and is becoming another Detroit.
Hard times are here, except if your have a government job. Government spending on new jobs is going up every year, because they have money to do it from our pockets. It is not likely that thye will be lowering salaries either!
The only way to combat this is to put new people and new ideas into office. It is important that we do that and do it sooner rather than later. I did vote for Parr in the last election, because I thought he would do a better job as a businessman that he represented himself to be. What a mistake I made, but never again! HE has got to go and I will vote for anyone but him!
If council wanted to trim costs they could, but how would they payback their political debts? The real problem is a lack of leadership to make the hard decissions, not a lack of our money! If the council can't get it right, they are not the people who should be in charge.
This thread is what drive all in Suffolk, MONEY! I have only been here a few years, but I am getting to understand that if you don't get involved in this process to demand more from council, they will bury you in debt and taxes! I hate to say it but I always felt the the Mayor of Norfolk, Paul Fraim was the worst politician in Hampton Roads, but Lady Bird-brain Johnson is by a wide margin the most stupid mayor I have ever seen in action. Not one to stepback from anything that feathers her own nest, she manipulates all and spend our money for her own political needs and that is just wrong. I did not get to vote last year (not here long enough), but wish I could have voted for anyone but Johnson. Folks, we have a problem and need to fix it!
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