Good to see the city trying to do the most fuel efficient operations. Sure wish IPSD 204 could learn something from the efforts of most other organizations. D204 is not only losing the savings of the Brach-Brodie location for the new high school (9% was the documented figure from D204 own written statements), but they are also adding up to 13% more bus miles - and thus fuel and operating costs, damage to the environment and safety risk for students and parents. The full cost to tax payers could run between $18 million and $50+ million over a 10-20 year period...based on various sources.

By Anonymous on June 18, 2008 3:25 PM
Putting a few officers on bicycles is at least another step in the right direction provided it is a sincere conservation effort and not just political pandering or "making work" for school resource officers during the summer vacation.

__________________________________________________________________

I believe these bikes are back in full force for "making work" for school resource officers.

You have 6 bike cops on weekDAYS...you have 6 bike cops on weekENDS.

Downtown is 10 times as busy on weekENDS and oddly we have the same amount of bike cops.

My suspician is we need one or two on weekDAYS when the downtown is rather deserted except for occasionally Thursday.

Downtown was pretty busy right before before the schools closed in May. It did not seem to get much busier after the high schools closed. Maybe less busier on weekdays snce the North Central College Students are out and went home. Yet, despite a minor decline in business on weekdays, we went from 0 bike cops to 6 bike cops.

Maybe Councilman Bob can explain this massive increase in bike cops coincidentally when schools get out and not when downtown business picks up. This is also a real good story for the Naperville Sun. Many downtown regulars probably notice this and wonder why.

This is penny wise and pound foolish strategy. We are saving 10 dollars in "potential" gas but we are wasting 450 dollars per hour for these school cops to be patrolling the downtown when they are not needed especially on weekdays.

If they work 12 hour shifts, we are wasting $5,400 dollars per week night in downtown. Maybe we could save $27,000 dollars a week or $351,000 dollars for the summer quarter.(less if no OT is involved) This is really a salary issue and not a gas savings issue. It is like one blogger said a "head fake" to throw the residents off.

If the school bike cops are trully replacing vehicle cops on weekends, this could be a true savings in gas. My observation unfortunately indicates that they are in addition to the vehicle cops!

And we still don't have an explanation why 3 Nightclubs in one NW Plaza need no cops but 3 nightclubs on Chicago Ave need 6 bike cops plus some vehicle cops. We know from the Naperville Sun where the real gunfire is being fired...but the cops are all in the wrong place!

Putting a few officers on bicycles is at least another step in the right direction provided it is a sincere conservation effort and not just political pandering or "making work" for school resource officers during the summer vacation. The physical fitness aspects alone are a positive benefit. If nothing else, and from looking at a few of our officers, the police chief should at least explore developing some type of rotation among officers on bicycles patrol so they all get a periodic workout more frequently. Yeah, there are a few who wouldn't fare too well in a foot race with a "bad guy".

Use of motorcycles is a mixed blessing. Yes the use of fuel is reduced, but it also places officers at greater risk of injury. A single motorcycle crash could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and that would negate any cost savings on fuel.

There are many different ways to conserve fuel consumption. Part of it relates to the number and types of vehicles the city purchases. Some of it relates to the type of fuel being used in the vehicles. Some of it also relates to how individual operators actually drive and operate their vehicles.

Many other cities have taken an active leadership role in adopting and supporting alternative vehicles and alternative fuels such as natural gas, electric, hybrid, hydrogen, etc. Something that would be good to see a lot more of in Naperville!

How about a couple of easy first steps?

Let's get all the parking meter reading staff into electric vehicles. Ditto for the community service officers.

How about all newly purchased that are intended for use just within the city or between city buildings to either be electric or hybrid vehicles? Ditto for people who spend a lot of time with short drives mostly around town like building inspectors.

How about converting some of our diesel vehicles to burn used frying oil? With all of the "fast food" restaurants in Naperville there should be a huge potential cost savings with this step alone. Plus we would be expanding recycling and waste minimization right here in our own town. There are stories about how women have figured out how to convert their vehicles to burn waste cooking oil.... so this should be a real snap for our talented and more technically savvy city staff.

Councilman Bob,

It appears as Anonymous and others said, the City of Naperville has an option of going to self managed pension plans and limiting itself to 10% of matching contributions. Aurora does this! Why can't we!

We are paying 21.16% with our current plan and $50.5 million in the hole despite these HUGE MATCHING FUND PAYMENTS! According to the Illinois Pension Code we could limit ourselves to "self‑managed plan participant at a rate of 10% of the participating employee's salary, less the amount of the employer contribution used to provide disability benefits for the employee."

By going the self-managed way, if these pensions go bust as I suspect they did in 2000/2001 we don't have to replinish them. I suspect we are replinishing them for their losses under the current system. The pension managers are not held accountable. An actuarial determines how much we have to put in so they can get 75% of their highest, ending and possibly bumped up salary regardless of investment returns on the pension funds.

We need to switch as Aurora apparently did and limit ourselves to this 10% exposure. I am sure most towns that are capped at 5% tax increases due to non-home rule are not funding 21.16% and getting deeper in the hole as we are. I bet most of them were forced to go to the 10% limit as our legislature allowed in 2002 right after the market bust that wiped out every kind of pension, IRA, Roth and whatever other retirement vehicles were in existence at the time.

I suspect the City Finance Director is not telling the City Council the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth about our options. He may not be giving them the entire code to read. I read it and as anonymous said, it is quite a read but informative and lays out options. I don't get 10k a year in salary, health insurance or receive a pension upon retirement as council members do but made a half hour of time to read it.

Why are not city council members who wanted to do all this, by nominating themselves for election, and are paid handsomely for a few hours of work on every other Tuesday not willing to read and research? Why are they not asking the City Finance Director tough questions instead of buying into his answers as if they were copied and pasted from the Bible? Is the City Finance Director a former police officer like Mayor George Pradel, City Manager Bob Marshall, and sitting Police Chief David Dial? Is there a conspiracy among top officials in City Hall to take care of their own? I am simply ASKING A QUESTION! Questions are allowed and not considered defamation of character?

Everyday myself and fellow Napergatians are accused of being conspiratorial theorists for simply asking tough questions that our city council members refuse to answer. They run away from us as they ran away from the Napergate Man except for Councilman Bob who seems very sincere and is trying to get a handle on what is sinking us as a town into future bankruptcy! Yes, if we were non-home rule as almost all Illinios towns are, we would be facing bankruptcy soon!

Let us hope we get some answers.

I copied and pasted part of the Illinios Pension Code that pertains to my discussion. I could be wrong in understanding it but this is how I understood it. Does anyone understand it differently? Take a shot at it, Joe! You seem good at this stuff!

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PENSIONS
(40 ILCS 5/) Illinois Pension Code.

(40 ILCS 5/Art. 3 heading)
ARTICLE 3. POLICE PENSION FUND ‑ MUNICIPALITIES
500,000 and UNDER

(g) Contributions. The self‑managed plan shall be funded by contributions from participants in the self‑managed plan and employer contributions as provided in this Section.
The contribution rate for a participant in the self‑managed plan under this Section shall be a minimum of 10% of his or her salary. This required contribution shall be made as an "employer pick‑up" under Section 414(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or any successor Section thereof. An employee may make additional contributions to the self‑managed plan in accordance with the terms of the plan.
The self‑managed plan shall provide for employer contributions to be credited to each self‑managed plan participant at a rate of 10% of the participating employee's salary, less the amount of the employer contribution used to provide disability benefits for the employee. The amounts so credited shall be paid into the participant's self‑managed plan accounts in the manner prescribed by the plan.

Councilman Bob,

Thank you for the update and your continued access to all this wonderful info.

On the police pension issue you pointed the way and I followed by doing a search. This link following this will take anyone to the full text of the state statute and let me just say this is quite a read indeed. This is far more than a police pension fund statute. Rather it is an entire police welfare system. The average citizen has no idea what is included. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=004000050HArt%2E+3&ActID=638&ChapAct=40%26nbsp%3BILCS%26nbsp%3B5%2F&ChapterID=9&ChapterName=PENSIONS&SectionID=39756&SeqStart=12200&SeqEnd=19800&ActName=Illinois+Pension+Code%2E

What I would like to see some more information from the City Finance Director relate to two issues:
First, Sec. 3‑109.3. of the state stute allows for self‑managed plans and call for a 10% contribution by officers and a 10% contribution by the city. The contribution values we have heard are not consistent with these amounts and need to be verified. So does that mean we do not have a self-managed play? If so, what kind of plan do we have? If we have another kind of plan how can it be converted into a self-managed plan?
Second, you stated in your post "The union contracts only come into play regarding the final salary of the officer's at time of retirement. The higher the salary, the higher the pension, and therefore the higher the City contribution." Wow, now I might be wrong, but to me that sounds like an enormous red flag. Can the City Finance Director please clarify exactly how the union contract comes into play regarding the final salary? Exactly what does the contract either call for or allow? What exactly does come into play mean? Is language in our contract required by law and is it consistent with what is provided in other municipalities? In reading the statute, the final salary is the one-year period preceding retirement which should be simply and factually determined by payroll so why was it even necessary to agree any union contract language on this?

Again, thank for all you are doing to provide a window into how our city is functioning. Hopefully more city council members will join you and embrace the concept of transparency.

Councilman Bob,

If I read you correctly you are blaming everything regarding pensions on the state instead of the city except for starting salaries and ending salaries.

Let us assume you are right.

But if neighboring towns are getting qualifed police officers for starting salaries of 40k as many have detailed here and we are paying 60K or 50% more that could be a huge root of the problem.

That alone makes salaries 50% higher throughout the 30 year career of a police officer compared to other departments. It also makes pensions higher for the 30 to 50 years after police officers retire depending on how long they live. With life expectancy increasing due to healthier habits and medical advances, pensions funding can be expected to get much much worse!

That could explain why Aurora only needs to put in 10% of matching funds while we have to put in 21.16% of matching funds. We know teachers bump salaries in the final years to increase pensions. I do not know if police and fire chiefs from Naperville increase salaries before retirement. I do have an acquaintence who recently retired from the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Dept. A month before his 30th year he was promoted to Captain. The reason was to give him not only a normal raise but also a promotional raise so he could have a higher pension. He was officially promoted to Captain at his retirement farewell party which took place in Lisle.

Does this happen in Naperville? I honestly don't know but it seems routine everywhere else and I suspect if no one is watching it is also unfortunatly happening here. Is anyone watching CM Bob? Please let us know and stop this practice if it is going on in our town as it is tantamount to ripping off the hard working taxpayers!

When you combine the fact that we start our police officers at 50% more than surrounding communities and these higher salaries remain higher by 50% for 30 years combined with probable end of career bumps from promotions, one really does understand why the PENSION SYSTEM is BROKEN despite that fact we are feeding it annually with 21.16% of our taxpayer money.

I think the city council should stop blaming the state. Reducing starting slaries by one third to be on par with surrounding communities will reduce our pension pay-outs by 33.33% I suspect that would help us immensely and we can reduce our taxpayer contributions from 21.16% to 10% just like Aurora. Aurora is also in the State of Illinios and lives by the same exact laws as we do.
If they can do it....we can do it!

They pay police officers a competitive salary, I assume avoid end of career bumps and apparently do not have the problems of Naperville. The solution lies within the city council. Let us not pass the puck! Please do your homework and negotiate better with the unions. I suspect you would like us to believe the state negotiated on your behalf with the unions. I don't think so! The council members negotiated with the unions and did a terrible job.

As Napergatian said to open this thread,

"Talk is cheap. The City of Naperville is famous for feeding the public baloney for consumption."

Please CM Bob don't pass baloney on to us from the City Finance Director. We are not stupid! Feed us the truth! Hold him responsible and accountable. Passing the puck really gets old after a while!

Victor,

I agree with what you wrote about home rule. This has got to go back on the ballot so we can see if everyone will still support home rule or if it should be repealed. Hopefully the question can be placed on the ballot at the next election.

As for Councilman Furstenau. I interpret his actions both personally and publicly to indicate he is a man of deep moral convictions and high personal values. The whole lawsuit is, no doubt, eating him up. I don't believe for one minute that he wanted to file a lawsuit and he has offered several times to negotiate a settlement. Despite what a lot of people have said and suggested there is no easy way out of this box for him. The city created a box for him and then placed it in a corner. Now they are acting surprised that he is standing up and defending his position.

At this point I am actually comfortable letting it all play out in court. Sure the city is going to waste a lot of money. Sure the city is going to loose. Sure all of the other council members are going to get thrown out. I justify the total cost of all this by simply looking at it as council member severance pay... the cost of getting rid of a bunch of dysfunctional and incompetent city council members. If you look at the total cost of all the waste and corruption in Naperville, the cost of this lawsuit is pales in comparison. If the end justifies the means and we can once and for all clean house and get some city council members elected who will serve with honor and dignity it will be well worth every penny spent.

When the truth of all what has actually been going on come out, when all of the dirty laundry starts getting aired, when all of the greasing of wheels, payoffs, bribes, taking care of friends and relatives, contract rigging, no bid contracts, and all the other dirty stuff finally gets noticed by the feds... well George Ryan better move over and make room for some new room mates.

Glad to see we're all back on the air.

Vanessa 6/17 @ 1:07a - Point taken on thick skin. Regarding City taxes:

On the 2006 & 2007 DuPage County real estate tax bills, the lines that relate to taxes the City Council has control over are set out on 3 lines: City of Naperville, City Pension Fund and Naperville Public Library. The tax rates for each those components are:

City of Nville: .3334 in 2005, .3316 in 2006 and .3575 in 2007.
City pension fund: .1387 in 2005, .1348 in 2006 and .1360 in 2007.
Library: .2404 in 2005, .2302 in 2006 and .2231 in 2007.

Remember, though: tax rates are deceiving, because they are the figure that gets multiplied by one-third the assessed property value set for that year (set by the assessor of whichever township you live in - mine is Lisle Township in DuPage County). Assessed value trends are different from neighborhood to neighborhood and from year to year. (BTW: Despite what most of us perceive as a down market for real estate, which should lower assessed values, I'm hearing that the township assessors expect INCREASES of 3-4%!! Be prepared for a revolt!!)

Here are some thoughts on each of those components:

City of Naperville: We're having to rely more on the property tax component this year because other sources of revenue (real estate transfer taxes, building permit fees, sales tax) are down. Salary increases averaged around 3.8% for city staff this year. To offset the downward trend in revenues, and not just make up for it in property taxes, we're definitely going to have to reduce staff costs, which account for the largest portion of the City's operating expenses.

On the Library: The amount of the Library component seems high to me (about 65% of the City's component), but the Library has no other significant sources of revenue. Under State law, the Library proposes and the Council either approves or rejects their property tax request. The Library's requested increases have been relatively modest, so they've been approved in recent years with little opposition.

On the pension component: Here's the answer I gave to a question asked on the May 21 thread "Could pension issue affect Marshall for manager?":

Councilman Bob on June 4, 2008 9:22 PM

QUESTION to City's Finance Director: How did the pension system we're operating under get started?? Was it via a state law passed by the Illinois legislature?? Was it by municipal ordinance?? In other words, if the residents, via their elected Councilmen, wanted to increase or decrease pension benefits, what's the legal mechanism for doing that?? Also, does Naperville have a mandatory age for retiring from the police force or fire department??

ANSWER: Effective July 1, 1963, legislation was passed by the State legislature that required that each municipality must establish a police pension fund, whose structure and operation is dictated by State statute. (ILCS Chapter 40 "Pensions," Article 3 "Police Pension Fund - Municipalities 500,000 and Under."

The legal mechanism for changes will likewise need to be through action at the state level. The Illinois Municipal League has started the reform ball rolling with their recent issuance of "Fiscal Analysis of the Downstate Police, Fire and IMRF Pension Systems. This analysis highlights the challenges being experienced by the majority of pension funds with respect to annual funding.

One municipality (Evanston) tried to take a year off of funding and they lost in court.

Basically, actuary comes in and says that, given the population covered, the City will be required to contribute X dollars for each year. The only statutory requirement is that each municipal plan be fully funded by the year 2033. We have a large unfunded balance that we pay a portion of each year from now through 2033. This is combined with the amounts earned during the year to make up our contribution. The union contracts only come into play regarding the final salary of the officer's at time of retirement. The higher the salary, the higher the pension, and therefore the higher the City contribution.

Back to the topic of this thread, namely fuel consumption: The city staff did a good job in predicting usage and negotiating rates in advance that avoided the massive unbudgeted increases other communities and businesses are facing. But we shouldn't spend too much time congratulating ourselves because it's just sand off the dump truck. The key in the coming year(s) will be to reduce overall city expenses, especially staff expenses, to levels consistent with a climate of lower city revenues and the inability/unwillingness of residents to accept property tax increases.

Best, ~Bob.

PS to Anonymous 6/15 @ 11:39a - I expect to get and post on this thread data on fuel use among the city departments, as promised.

By Anonymous on June 17, 2008 12:16 AM
When the concept of saving anything... money, fuel, you name it in Naperville the concept of "too little, too late" comes to mind.

With all of the resources we have, with all of the talent, with all of the possibilities... why is it that Naperville is never, ever a leader and, at best, is only a reluctant follower?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The answer to your question can be found in Napergatian's post. Basically, Naperville removed any incentives to watch costs by invoking home rule.

Before home rule, they were limited to 5%. They had to work on balancing the budget. They had to watch expenses. Now they don't have to balance the budget. Whatever it is, they balance it by increasing taxes to residents. Adding new mansions to the tax base! Just like Napergatian stated! 20% real estate increases appear to be the new order in town despite all the mansions and business addtions to the tax base!

They got away with it once. They will not get away with it again.

The Napegate Man used to really watch the folks in city hall. They feared what he would publish next. They are not afraid of the Naperville Sun yet.

I suspect Host Ted has something up his sleeve on pensions coming next. He indicated he is working on it. I don't doubt him.

Once the print edition readers who exceed us bloggers by at least ten fold find out we are being bilked more than 21% annually for these retirement pensions and $51 million in the hole on top of that, I really believe it is all over for our current city council maybe except for Councilman Bob who seems to want to help.

Councilman Furstenau seems too busy with his lawsuit and has never peeked on us here to even say hi. He needs to get involved like Councilman Bob and drop his lawsuit. If we every needed his help it is right now! As he should know the city is stupid enough to spend a million dollars defending his 100,000 lawsuit. They have no regards for waste. Hopefully, DF can drop his lawsuit and save us this waste since the city council members don't seem to care if they spend 5 million defending against him. They have no 5% cap so they will stiff it to the taxpayers and blame it on DF...no one is going to buy that!

You are doing an awesome job Host Ted but please speed up that pension article. Make sure it is on the first page. That will shock Naperville more than any Napergate ad ever shocked this town!

Councilman Bob,
I have not seen anyone calling you any kind of name since you appeared on these blogs. Everyone appreciates all your help.

I think the frustration is as a result of other city officials who are not willing to communicate with us and address our concerns.

Some frustration comes from the fact that we even have to write these letters. It seems like the Council Members are aware our taxes went up 20% this year. The state finds anything over 5% unacceptable and not allowed unless you are home rule through an exemption.

How can our council members have allowed real estate taxes to go up 20% in one year? Did we not elect you to watch over city business?

Speaking for 3 minutes in front of the City Council is hardly enough time for one to address his concerns. Napergatian could not address his concerns which are "legit" as you stated in only 3 minutes.

I did not feel Napergatian was name calling. I felt he/she was just trying to push the city council to make some changes. I think city council members should have THICK SKIN and not be disturbed by a negative word or two. Plus, I have not seen anyone criticise you including Napergatians as I suspect they appreciate that you unlike any of your fellow council members are will to make an effort.

I don't see how the one on one in your office would help. We have 144,000 folks in town who are all concerned about the tax increases of the last year. About these pensions that we contribute 21% to but are still in hole to the tune of 51 million. How could all this happen? How come we can't stand up to the Naperville Police and Firemen unions and say enough is enough?

Police make more than lawyers. All that is left is for them to make more than doctors. Police officers and firemen did not even make the 10 most dangerous professions in America. Due to much better building materials and sprinkler systems, fires have declined 50%. But our fire fighters continue to increase in numbers like fires increased 50% in recent years. I bet we could decrease the amount of firemen on each shift by half and the town would hardly see a noticeable difference.

If a couple of firemen get to a scene and it is so bad, they could radio for additional help from the other stations. They could hold the fort until help comes in a few additional minutes. Have the council members done any research to see if we need less firemen since the whole town is now almost sprinklerized, alarmed and with advanced smoke detectors?

Anyway, I hope you respond gradually to Napergatian's questions and try to answer them all in due time. We would all like to hear the answers. As someone said there are 100,000 views here and most of us are curious.

I do not know if you are running for election again, but I certainly plan on voting for you for no other reason than that you are willing to communicate with us and provide answers.

I suspect most people on the blogs feel the same way as I do. They do not care if you are a Democrat or Republican, Establishment or Napergatian. They care that you care and that is why I think and hope everyone will vote for you in the next election.

I hope we get more council members in this town who show half the concern you have shown. If they don't want to communicate with us that is fine.

But my question is why are not your colleagues asking tough questions on Tuesday evenings. I watch these city council meetings on cable to conserve gas, but I really see a lot of rubberstamping. I don't see any serious debate. I see that the City Council trusts our City Officials.

I would trust them to if my taxes only increased 5%. But since they went up 20% with no serious explanation I have lost trust for the moment.

Please continue your attempts to communicate with us and inform us. I for one greatly appreciate the time you are taking out of your busy life and all your efforts to obtain and relay information. You are doing a great job, CM Bob!

Keep up the excellent work! I am sure I speak for the majority when I say we all appreciate what you have done so far especially in the area of communication!

When the concept of saving anything... money, fuel, you name it in Naperville the concept of "too little, too late" comes to mind.

With all of the resources we have, with all of the talent, with all of the possibilities... why is it that Naperville is never, ever a leader and, at best, is only a reluctant follower?

RJ, it's still there. Click on the NEWS tab on top of home page--it shows all the stories for the past month or so. Then they go into archive.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/995530,6_1_NA09_BIKES_S1.article

To Anonymous 6/15 @ 11:39a - I will get and post on this thread data on fuel use among the city departments.

To A Napergatian 6/15 @ 7:32a - Where to begin?? Hard to get past this first post and think we're going to have a thread that doesn't devolve into name-calling and conspiracy theories. Your underlying concerns are legit, but I'm afraid that responding via blog posts will just get us into an "is not" "is too" exchange. I'd be happy to discuss your and anyone else's concerns, in real time, anytime. My contact into is on www.naperville.il.us (click on Government, then Mayor & City Council, then Naperville City Council).

All - I'll continue to read your posts and get answers to questions you pose. Give me a day or two to get back to you, as I'm only able to visit this blog once a day or so. Peace, ~CB.

RJ,

I think Herbert was responding to what you said. I am not sure we need more than 6 bike cops downtown. That has already been covered rather intensely in recent months. The Riverwalk is being patrolled by additional park district cops wearing yellow.

I think if you are serious about saving taxpayer money you need to addresss all the points Blogger Napergatian addressed in the first post on this thread.

Better City Officials need to address them! Communication from them is lacking. I suspect if communication does not improve they will face the consequences from lack of communication in the next election.

The City is just making these huge holes for Napergatians, Napervillians and Taxpayers. The Napergatians are just going through them and getting their points across very well.

When the city opened huge holes in the 90s we saw what the Napergate Man did and how he influenced elections even more.

I suspect since the Napergatians far outnumber the one Napergate Man and the holes are much bigger this time, they will be able to greatly influence elections.

Once they tell the Napervillians the City of Naperville increases taxes 20% annually while almost every town in the state is limited to 5% increases due to non-home rule, and surviving just fine, I suspect it will be over for our city officials.

If you want to help our city officials now it the time to give them "tough love" and not after they are ousted from office.

Read that Napergatian post again and cover the real issuess rasing our taxes and try addressing them, RJ.

Being evasive will not get you too far. Residents catch on when they see you are being evasive and tackling the baby issues like number of bikes and number of magazines. That is exactly what the City of Naperville wants you to do, while they take cover.

But they have to understand the cover will end at election day if they take no ACTION!

Ted;
would you be kind enough to post the article I was referring to, it seems to have disappeared from the Sun archives already. The date it was published was 6/9/08.

It will show Herbert that the NPD is planning on increasing the number of bicycle cops in order to save fuel. Without the article, all we have is Herbert's assumptions to go on.

Thanks, RJ.

I'd like to see some hard numbers from Councilman Bob, though I'm willing to stick my neck our and hazard a guess that the Police Department is one of the larger users of fuel among all the city departments.

Reducing fuel consumption by 6 percent is a first step in the right direction. Surely we have a lot of really smart and bright people working for the City of Naperville who can come up with many, many more ideas on how to be even more efficient with city resources. Saving fuel is nice, but why stop there? City workers see first hand a lot of opportunities where resources are being wasted, they see inefficiencies, they see opportunities to do things differently. Sometimes little savings in one area translates into much larger savings when applied across an entire organization. Within a budget the size of the City of Naperville there are likely to be hundreds of opportunities to reduce, eliminate, or avoid certain expenses. There are a lot of city employees who recognize these opportunities but are afraid to speak up or do anything about it because they are fearful of the political repercussions if they do anything.

The City Council would be well advised to develop a recognition, award, and compensation system that is open to voluntary participation by all city employees. If an employee has an idea on how to save the city a bunch of money and the idea works and there is tangible, documented proof that it will indeed save money then let's implement a program to reward people who have the initiative and creativity to identify these opportunities. Everyone will benefit. Maybe even some "friendly competition" among all the departments to see which department comes up with the most ideas or saves the most money... maybe we give the entire department a day off or take the entire department out to dinner? Treat city employees right, give them an opportunity to show their stuff, and they will definitely rise to the challenge.

But a word of caution if we do implement such a system from past experience! Design the politics out of it from the beginning. Employees must be allowed to submit their ideas directly to the city council or the Mayors office free of any possible kinds of politics or repercussions. An absolute ground rule must be that there are no sacred cows absolutely anywhere in the City of Naperville. Every aspect and every penny of city spending must be fair game. Here is a hint... the truth be known, anyone who argues against these points is actually a red flag that warrants further investigation into spending practices in their own area of influence.

RJ,

There were 6 bike cops 2 years ago. 6 bike cops last year. And this year there is also 6 bike cops.

Nothing knew happened and nothing new was introduced. No change took place and no new conservation occurred. This is just a public relations ploy!

As Napergatian said, "Talk is cheap. The City of Naperville is famous for feeding the public baloney for consumption."

I think it is time for the City of Naperville to face the real problems Napergatian eloquently described starting with the $50.5 million police and fire pensions being in the negative.

Let us stop beating around the bushes, RJ!

Residents can see through all this smoke!

If the City of Naperville does not get serious we will see another 20% or even 30% tax increase next year. Right now the city is playng the "ouchie band aid game." That won't get City Officials very far!!!

With Ted's Threads having 100,000 views per week many months ago(much higher now), I expect the word is getting around to all the voters like never before. I don't expect any city council to survive the next election except for Mr. Fursteanu. The rest are all puppets agreeing with City Officials. They are embarrassing and shameful as they have neglected their duties in the interest of their own pensions!

There was an article in the Sun recently regarding the Naperville Police using more officers on bicycles downtown and on the Riverwalk in order to conserve gas. Between that and the use of motorcycles I would say we must commend the NPD for being environmentally friendly and fiscally responsible.

Now, if all the other City departments join in the effort, think of the reduction of the City's carbon footprint.

Talk is cheap. The City of Naperville is famous for feeding the public baloney for consumptin.

If true cutting measures were being taken by our City Officials, we would not have experienced 18-20% in our real estate tax bills while inflation was under 4%.

If the city wants us to believe them they could follow all the cities that do not have home rule and limit themwselves to 5% real estates tax increases and live within those maximum increases.

Naperville really puzzles me. So many mulit-million dollar home were added to our tax base in the last 2 years, yet real estate taxes increased by nearly 20%. These mansions should have decreased taxes by adding substantially to our tax base. But that did not happen. Why?

These multi-million mansions do not cost us more for garbage collection, branch collection, leaf pick-up, or street repairs. In fact, many of these homes pay 20-80k in real estate taxes and only require the same services as a home paying 5k in real estate taxes. Where is all this excess money going? Why is it not reducing the taxes of the average taxpayer?

While it is great the City of Naperville is saving 6% on gas, that could not prevent 20% increases in our real estate tax bills this last year!

I believe the City of Naperville Officials are trying to deflect the residents from what the real problems in town are.

Those problems are the very high salaries paid to some city employees, very high pensions, full health benefits, life insurance, early retirement ages, paying employees that quit voluntarily parachutes, cancelling loans of city employees, etc. etc. It goes on and on and all has been discussed on Ted's Threads by both Napervillians and Napergatians.

I think we all know that this measure is tokenism. It will save a few thousand dollars. Every dollar is important but let us go for the BIG DOLLARS first!

But the city of Naperville has to come out of the closet and discuss the real problems that caused the 18-20% tax increases. The $50.5 million pension deficit for the police and firemen should be the first discussed. This was caused by the allowance of very early retirement by city employees along with very large pensions based on the highest salary earned in the 30th year.

So we can keep playing games with our city officials and discuss magazines and gas. Yes, I believe in saving every penny and these 2 items will save 2 pennies.

But I also believe in saving the millions of dollars caused by the pension chaos. Honestly, Host Ted, you are allowing the city to distract you from the real serious problems by having you focus on the very minor problems that will save the taxpayers pennies.

Let us tackle the largest problems first that will save the millions. Let us tackle magazines last and this gas second to last. They are very important because every penny counts. But a penny counts only after the dollars are saved. The dollars count only after the thousands of dollars are saved. And finally the thousands of dollars count only after the millions of dollars are saved.

City officials would obviously like us to tackle the problems in REVERSE. They want to enjoy the big beneifts and give up the insignigicant ones like magazines and idling that will save us pennies. My expert mechanic told me that idling is less stressful on a vehicle than constant restarting. He said those vehicle should be held till 150,000 miles and not sold at 52,000 miles if the city wants maximum bang for the buck!

City officials don't want to deal with the issues that are really affecting the bottom line because that means they would have to make true sacrifices. They do not want to make true sacrifices. They want to continue to serve and enjoy all their benefits that are causing the 18-20% increases in our real estate tax bills.

They may be hoping it all can be postponed until they all retire. Maybe they are hoping the next generation of city employees will make the necessary sacrifices. It is obvious to me, they are not ready to make any REAL SACRIFICES to bring sanity to our CITY BUDGET and TAXES once again!

Please don't let them use your threads for propoganda, Host Ted! Hold them accountable as Mr. Jim Lynch, your mentor did! Demand answers about the 50.5 million dollar pension shortfalls. That seems to be by far our biggest problem. With limited time in your work day, you should not be wasting time on magazine threads. That is where the city wants you to focus your energy. That is their head fake so they can go for the big bucks in the pension funds while you are distracted worrying about a few magazines costing each household in Naperville one tenth of one penny per year.

Ignore the headfake and go for the gusto, Host Ted! You are doing a great job...stay on course and don't be distracted! Good Luck!