Firefighters and Police in Wisconsin: A Model for Coral Gables?
February 22, 2011 4 Comments
The firefighters and police unions have supported the governor of Wisconsin in his bid to undermine unions in the state.
In Coral Gables the police and firefighters are reluctant to concede salaries and pensions, apparently because of a belief in an acquired right over the taxpayers.
Unfortunately, the commissioners have shown no spine whatsoever in pushing back on the unions, except for the much weaker general employees. Also, the mayor has openly and blindly supported all union benefits.
This system will not lead to better budgets or “quality of life” in this city.
About Stephen E. McGaughey
Coral Gables Watch 
Two things.
One, your statement that police and fire fighters have supported the Governor in Wisconsin is just plain wrong. And there’s more where that came from.
Secondly, the Governor has exempted the police and firefighters from the laws that he’s trying to push through the legislature for one big reason…they supported him during the election. You can Google that one for yourself.
Look, I’m all for cutting waste and fraud in the government, but don’t try to balance the budget on the backs of middle America while the millionaires and the wealthy people who contribute to political campaigns continue to get tax cuts.
Somewhere along the line, you and many like you have been sucked into the thinking that the only way to overcome fiscal deficits is by cutting. But it’s two-pronged, one prong being cutting waste and the other prong being generating revenue. There’s too little of the latter going on and it’s about time you folks start considering it.
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Truly there is very little waste to cut without cutting large numbers of staff on the one hand, or cutting benefits on the other. The unions have played the politicians off against the taxpayers and won. The police and firefighters consider themselves indispensable and therefore want to be excluded from all of the pain. Let them take some of the pain with the rest of us. Of course, they support the fight but quietly take the money.
C’mon. They’re saying they’ll take cuts and give concessions. This is not totally about money. If it was then the Governor wouldn’t have just given Wal-Mart over $100 million in tax breaks. It’s about disassembling the unions and politics.
Take the concessions from the unions and raise taxes on the wealthy. It ‘s all there if only the politics weren’t in the way.
.And I’ve mentioned here once before and I’ll mention it again because you keep repeating it. If public servants have to “share the pain” when things are bad, then it’s only fair that they “share the wealth” when things are good. Right? Or is it just a one way street with folks like you.
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I guess you are talking about Wisconsin and I am talking about Coral Gables. As a Coral Gables taxpayer I am most concerned about the huge unfunded pensions that firefighters and police have accumulated and they were only glad to accept in good times with the full participation of the commission and the city manager. I understand that the police, and secondarily the firefighters, are very resistent to accepting any reductions in salaries and pensions at this time.