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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| | Email this article • Print this article | Public employees need to tighten their belts as well
Glencoe City Council emerged from a closed session at the end of its Nov. 16 meeting and announced it had given no wage increases to its non-union employees, but did increase the health savings accounts of those employees by $450 for 2010. The city also picked up the 13 percent increase to its employees' health insurance premiums.
The decision was part of a bigger debate concerning the 2010 city budget, and how best to make up for the loss of $240,000 in local government aid (LGA) from the state for that budget year.
The wage freeze, coupled with another round of budget cuts, not filling two job vacancies and the decision to not implement a new natural gas franchise fee right now, took some courage to do. We think it was the right decision at a time of great economic uncertainty.
The City Council should be commended for trying to get its budget back in balance without a property tax increase.
The City Council's action is more in line with what the private sector has been doing over the past several years. When the money is not available, private employees receive no pay increases, and, in some cases, have given back some wages.
That said, the county board should take note, especially after it hiked salaries by 5.5 percent late last year despite declining revenues. Like the city of Glencoe, the county also lost some LGA last year and will again in 2010.
The county commissioners were out of step with the rest of the country with last year's pay raises. The commissioners need to be more realistic as they end this current budget year and look at 2010. Commissioners, seriously consider county pay freezes in 2010.
The same is true of school employees. While total wage and benefit packages came in at lower-than-usual rates - 5.8 percent over two years for teachers and 5.9 percent for principals over two years - the salary increase for the superintendent came in at 10 percent next year and 11 percent spread over the next three years.
Overall, that is not much of an increase, but again, timing is everything. When others get no pay raise or take cuts, any raise in the public sector raises eyebrows.
We do not begrudge any of them for what they got. There are a lot of hard-working public employees. But there are a lot of hard-working private sector employees, too. While the rest of us must show restraint during this recession, local government needs the same self discipline.
With Truth in Taxation hearings coming soon, take the time to let your elected representatives know how you feel. More than ever, your elected officials need to hear from you on how they should spend your tax dollars. Have elected officials justify their actions; hold them accountable.
While public employee pay increases are necessary to keep good people, they should never be automatic.
- R.G.
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