Ficano's bag man gets 97k pension.

[Wesley Mouch]

With decreases in pay, years of no raises as the revenues are not there [[not due to doing a bad job mind you), increases in medical copays/ deductibles/ % for the plans, and the elimination of other benefits most public servants are making far less now than they did seven years ago....snip...

So its widely acknowledged that the total cost of payroll related expenses in all levels of government is increasing. And the number of public servants is steady or decreasing.

Somebody's getting more. May not be you. But that doesn't mean the system is working.

[DetroitPlanner]

So its widely acknowledged that the total cost of payroll related expenses in all levels of government is increasing. And the number of public servants is steady or decreasing.

Somebody's getting more. May not be you. But that doesn't mean the system is working.

Outside of the feds which started to grow under Bush [[post Sept 11) I doubt this, nearly every agency at the State and nearly every local municipal government has been cut well past the bone. Remember there has been a lot less money coming in as all major tax revenues [[property, sales, and income) have been in the $h!tter for several years. Many states have things such as the Headlee amendment and proposal A which basically mean that you cannot spend what you don't have [[for some reason, Detroit and some of the other municipalities have ignored these rules). I would sure like to see your evidence.

Even still what does any of this have to do with some rich appointed guy who was able to gain the system? Even if the County was in good shape fiscally, this would be an outrage, no?

[Wesley Mouch]

...I would sure like to see your evidence....

Even still what does any of this have to do with some rich appointed guy who was able to gain the system? Even if the County was in good shape fiscally, this would be an outrage, no?

Evidence? Well, not very deep. Here's one article I stumbled on today describing the state of NY municipalities. http://city-journal.com/2013/23_3_mu...kruptcies.html

Or from same publication, as regards percentage of revenues going to pension support. "In 2005, pension payments consumed 43 percent of income-tax revenue; in 2013, “every penny in personal income tax we collect will go to cover our pension bill,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently complained. America’s second-largest city, Los Angeles, has seen its pension payments rise from 3 percent of its budget to 18 percent today. Atlanta’s pension payments increased from $43 million annually in 2002 to $144 million in 2010, consuming 19 percent of its budget, before the city finally initiated pension reforms that capped costs and began reducing debt."
http://city-journal.com/2013/23_3_state-debt.html

It a biased publication, I'll agree. But its consistent with my understanding that payroll and related pension costs have risen as a percentage of operating budgets -- since long before the 2008 collapse. Certainly you'd expect to see a major shift post-2008 -- since a significant percentage of revenues for cities are property taxes. But when NYC is seeing the same increases -- you can't blame property value collapse, can you?

Weak sources --- but am I wrong? Are labor costs decreasing as a percentage of budgets?

[DetroitPlanner]

I can't see how this can be the case with the exception of Health Insurance. With each new year, employees are being asked to kick in a lot more to help defray the cost to the employer [[City, County, State). This means increases are being offset and borne mostly by employees. This is no different to how the private sector works.

New York has had a crash in property values. On Sept 11, 2001 a large chunk of its most valuable real estate was taken out. After the incident, many firms announced that they will no longer be looking at New York City for space but to suburban Jersey or up the River.

In short it is a giant race to the bottom for everyone. That is why this guy [[the person included in the original post) is a pig at a trough.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Outside of the feds which started to grow under Bush [[post Sept 11) I doubt this, nearly every agency at the State and nearly every local municipal government has been cut well past the bone. Remember there has been a lot less money coming in as all major tax revenues [[property, sales, and income) have been in the $h!tter for several years. Many states have things such as the Headlee amendment and proposal A which basically mean that you cannot spend what you don't have [[for some reason, Detroit and some of the other municipalities have ignored these rules). I would sure like to see your evidence.

Even still what does any of this have to do with some rich appointed guy who was able to gain the system? Even if the County was in good shape fiscally, this would be an outrage, no?

There should be an outrage. I remember there was a outcry about the pensions of UAW workers not long ago. Everyone was bitchin and moanin about they didn't deserve what they were getting. Now these public and government workers are getting damn near 100k per year, and nobody is batting a eye about it. UAW pensions pale in comparison to what retired police and fire chiefs, county and city executives etc... are getting. Most of these people in these jobs didn't do anything special or worked any harder. Sounds like "the pot calling the kettle black".