Why in the blue blazes of Hades do fire chiefs need paid drivers... :evil: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/crash-taxes-slap-drivers-massive-fines/story?id=12377299&cid=ESPNheadline
Paid drivers for Fire Chiefs??? Never heard of such. Of course, I come from a Volunteer Fire Department background where nobody was paid for any services. No fees in my immediate future because the accident I had last night, my first one in 27 years, was minor enough to call 311 and self report.
I see this as a burgeoning problem in America as a result of the severity of the recession. Property tax values have hit bottom and state and local government are struggling for revenue. Seems logical to me because where else do these kinds of local services derive their revenues?
Dave, The logical thing to do would be to cut back the bloated budgets they control first. Do you think that the current budgets and departments they manage did not expand from the housing boom to the mortgage fiasco. Why can't they cut back like I and other private businesses have to do. Dave if this winters freezes doesn't wipe out our crops we will make our first profit in four years. We have lost 4 million dollars the last four years and when I looked around for somebody to pick up the difference I didn't have the authority to pull taxes out of my ass. I had to make real ugly cuts in my budget that matched the intake on revenue. My employees walked around like zombies afraid that they were next on the list of things to be cut. Oh yeah you know why we have lost four million dollars the last couple years??? The Federal and State goverment destroyed our citrus trees in an effort to control a disease.....It didn't work...Oops sorry about that guys, see ya later and remember to pay your taxes....Bastards.. Don't tell me that is the logical thing to do....No let them cut the budgets back to match the revenue sourcing like every other business does.
Logical Ralph if there is any room to cut. Most companies and state run services have already been slashing to the hilt. Hence....customer service is a thing of the past both for private industry and for state and local services. Example: I love that Bobby Bowden commercial with "Peggy".....and the one with Lou too. Those commercials don't hit home if this were not a phenomenon taking over American business. Ever try to call Spirit Airlines and ask questions? My God all you get is a passle of incomprehensible......ignorant "Peggys".
Re: public services, not really. They play a game of public whining to convey the impression that they are in grave danger, but in reality, they have a lot more room to make cuts. I've seen it firsthand.
Sid, are you really suggesting that the perhaps Fire Chiefs don't need personal drivers????? :shock: :lol: :lol:
I hope that is the case. My company deals with the permitting departments of all the states and almost every one has been cut down threadbare and it delays interstate transport of high and wide loads as a result. Must be 700,000 jobs we don't need..... http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/08/09/more_layoffs_expected_at_state_and_local_level/
Every time I think about "government employees", I think of the civil service jobs at out local post office. There are three employees at my local post office. To eliminate racial or sexist issues, I will call them employees A, B, and C. Employee A, the one I normally get at the front counter, remembers my last name and calls me Mr. McCord. "A" is courteous, knows what he/she is doing, and quickly handles my needs. Employee B, is always in a bad mood. He/she walks at a snail's pace and is arrogant and insulting. Employee C is not as bad as B and really tries but will never reach the level of Employee A. They could make cuts here and get rid of dead weight. However, it would take changing the rules governing Cival Service jobs. Those changes are in order!
I wonder how courteous employee A will be when he/she is stressed out by long lines of angry customers that will surely form when employee B is cut and no one else is hired to replace them due to budget constraints. I'm not saying B shouldn't be replaced but that's just it....there won't be a replacement. Ah....but that is life in America these days and we had all better get used to it.
A better option would be to get rid of B and C and hire another A. More would be accomplished on 2/3 the salaries.
New Jersey leads the nation in property taxes. They are high and going higher in spite of plummeting real estate values. Everyone knows that Jersey is not a big state. You can drive it east-west in an hour and north south in about three hours. We only have 21 counties. What we DO have a lot of is Boards of Education..... 567 to be exact. All autonomous in spite of numerous geographic overlaps. The "school" taxes account for 73% of my property tax bill ( no, I have no kids in school ). I pay two BOEs right in my little town. The teachers union in this state would make La Cosa Nostra head for the hills. Governor Christie has taken on the teachers union in an attempt to at least stabilize taxes. When asked how many Boards of Education we need in NJ, his answer was "How many counties do we have?" Government, for the most part, is pure overhead.
I'm learning on the fly here myself, BT. I can tell you that every little town insists on its own BOE, Police Dept., Public Works, etc . The duplication of services in this state is beyond belief. Now that tells me that there is some serious money involved for the players. My town is a bedroom community. We have a police force of 97. They average about 80K per year in salary; many make more than 100K. I think a gun gets discharged about once every ten years. They make 25-40K more than a NJ State Trooper like my son and he works the Black Dragon ( NJ Turnpike or I95 ), the biggest drug corridor in the US. And every town is like my town.
George, let's analyze this a little deeper. I do not agree with the higher than normal salaries, but the less citizens are allowed, or willing to defend themselves, there is more of a danger in cutting percentage of officers to population. Are you willing to have high response times if your family is being assaulted? ... or high response times when you are waiting for the fire department to bring the Hurst tool (Jaws of Life)? Emergency services are hard to cut but can be made more efficient.
As far as I am concerned, they can cut 50% of the police force in Texas. I have taken the steps necessary to keep me safe and so has my wife. I have proven that I can do so. Any criminal that backs me into a corner and is a threat to my life will be held for the police to pick them up at their leisure. :wink: That criminal's condition will be purely up to him. :shock:
George.... Your state does need to be dissected and disbanded. I recently drove many miles in S. NJ and there are many many municipalities and townships that I am sure could be consolidated into a county run type operation. Doesn't mean that public services will be as efficient though.