NO FEE Sentiments of our Coral Gables Neighbors
September 7, 2009 Leave a comment
No Fee
The Rich Coral Gables Police Sergeant and the “Surprised” Vice Mayor Kerdyk
September 7, 2009 Leave a comment
Thanks to Jackie Bueno Sousa of the Miami Herald. We ask how is it possible that Mr. Kerdyk was really surprised after serving on the Commission for many years and approving many, many budgets–clearly he was not serviing the interest of the Coral Gables’ citizens.
In Coral Gables, Vice Mayor Bill Kerdyk recently told The Miami Herald he was surprised when he heard about a police sergeant who made $81,000 a year, but comp time and annual leave boosted the pay to $164,000 a year before the officer retired. The higher salary was factored into the sergeant’s pension, allowing him to get $125,000 a year for the rest of his life.
Such is the need to change the pay system. Let the employees and union beware. It is time for them to give back to the Coral Gables’ taxpayers.
Budget Talking Point (2)–We Don’t Want a “Cut Rate” Government
September 6, 2009 Leave a comment
It is hard to want a “cut rate government”.
But it is hard to know what we have now, but it is far from “cut rate”. We have an overpaid and over dimensioned government that can be reduced without serious impact on local services. Most of the critical services are already paid for.
Solid waste pick-up is paid for in the majority through fees.
The police services are paid for. Apparently the police union and employees consider themselves untouchable. Fire protection is paid for and is to be benefited by a new fire fee, it is thought. Indeed we seem to have a luxury fire department since they voluntarily took a salary reduction (assuming that they will have the fire fee to cover their salaries in the future).
Building and Zoning should be paid by the fees they charge; and they have much less to do right now and in the near future. The so-called Development Department has nothing to do because development is at a stand still.
The Finance Department would need to be reorganized and re-staffed at a minimum because they can’t seem to keep track of the City’s funds (hence the mysterious miscalculation of the $10 million reserves used to pay everyday expenses).
The Public Works Department is famously inefficient.
The Planning Department is famously useless.
Senior managers can immediately and easily have their salaries and benefits cut–it is assumed they don’t have that many job options at this time.
The infamous IT Department’s might still be outsourced at a significant saving or subject to a rigorous outside review of efficiency and effectiveness.
This is just a running list of impressions of what needs to be done and still not have a “cut rate government”.
Budget Talking Point (1)–It’s the Economy’s Fault
September 6, 2009 1 Comment
The City’s budget problems are not the fault of the bad economy (actually the worst recession since the Great Depression). They are the fault of the Commission and the City Manager who thought we would always have good times without regard for the certain coming bad times.
Even a return to “normal” times (no real estate bubble and gradual economic growth) would have triggered a crisis. The City’s budget watershed would have happened soon or later–it just so happens that the economic crash caught the City off guard. What counts is the balance between the taxpayers’ capacity-to-pay and the City’s capacity-to-spend. That balance would have been broken now or later.
