On Thursday the city of Naperville began to inform city workers of layoffs. The exact number and the positions was unclear Thursday but was expected to amount to several dozen jobs eliminated, between open positions and job cuts. Ten of the cuts will be at the police department, where eight open positions were eliminated and two recently hired officers were let go.
The cuts were projected to save the city about $3.5 million in an effort to close an $11 million budget deficit for 2011.
Councilman Bob Fieseler told the Sun that while the cuts were necessary, this time residents would notice the difference and would be disappointed as their services were affected.
What do you think of these cuts by the city?
Edit: The city announced Friday that a total of 49 positions were cut, consisting of 22 filled postions and 27 vacant positions. The city estimates this will save $3.6 million. Combined with last year's reductions, the city has now cut 10 percent of its labor force.
The City is trying to balance it's mistakes on the backs of the residents and employee's. Amazing people are not UP IN ARMS over the joke that is the Electric Grid. 11 Million could go a long way toward making taxes and fee's unnecessary, and it might even make it possible to treat those who work their with a tiny bit of respect. Until every bit of ego spending is eliminated, and every single position in the city is productive - it is insulting that any additional burden is put on the rest of us!
Anonymous,
That 10% pay cut example I gave is just one possible way to save jobs. It's not intended to represent a perfect example. Making every effort to save jobs isn't just looking out for fellow employees, it's also looking out for the well-being of our oountry's economy. I believe layoffs or job cuts should be the last thing government and businesses should do in this economy. It seems to be one of the first things instead. Let's listen to the President, and do what we can to keep people who want to work WORKING.
Southwest- I agree that your theory sounds logical. All employees should be looking out for one another. The fact is, the City already cut 10% of the workforce so you have everyone doing more with less and on top of that, they are tripling the employee's health insurance premium contribution which amounts to approximately another 10% of the average front line employee's salary anyway. So you can look at that as the 10% pay cut. They are also now attacking the pension and retirement separation benefits. How much more would you like?
As I previously stated, the problem with government is they have a very difficult time changing the business model. They can't just cut the "unprofitable" sector as things like water, electricity, snow plowing, fire fighting and police patrolling are commodities residents have come to expect.
With all the talk about the importance of saving, and creating jobs in today's economy, instead we are hearing about job cuts, and layoffs almost daily. Can't we find other ways to cut costs, and increase revenues? Now is not the time to be putting people out of work. In the big picture, that is a one way ticket to lost revenues. Whether it be home forclosures, lost tax revenues, or other ramifications of job losses.
Instead of laying off 10% of the work force, why not have an across the board 10% pay cut for all employees. I'm confident most employees would prefer a pay cut to a 1 out of 10 chance of losing their jobs altogether. If there are a few who won't take the 10% pay cut, they can move on to greener pastures by their own choice. Let's get on the bandwagon to save those "all-important" jobs in this difficult economy. It's just the right thing to do.
My2cents,
No one is condemning police or fire fighters here. No one thinks they don't do a good job.
What is being condemned is your MISINFORMATION.
I think you need to ante up that you were spreading rumors on this blog site.
Changing the subject after you are called out is a shameful way to avoid a proper apology.
And who said we don't bash teacher pensions which are just as ridiculous as police and fire pensions. Worse are those of the politicians and judges.
Nothing like jumping on the bandwagon, too bad. I think I know you, perhaps you stopped to help a citizen out that needed help, no you likely just turned your head the other way. Whine about the pensions all you want, the PD and FD put their lives on the line everyday for you still they don't get the recognition they deserve. I am sure you will argue the above statement but since you have never been on the line YOU CAN"T RELATE. You will get benefits from working that these men and women will not so the pensions were designed for that reason. They can have an IRA but amounts are greatly limited unlike the rest of the public. It is easy to point fingers, blame someone else for the budget woes. I have to pay taxes just like the rest of us, when you consider the tax bill, look it over. The large majority of the tax bill goes to 204 or 203, no question about it, I don't see you bashing the teacher pensions. So suck it up and pay your share, quit complaining and support your public servants. When you need them, they will be there for you regardless what you think.
By-1,
Very nice documentation to show 2 cents is in left field.
my2cents wrote:
Bonuses and profit sharing are a benefit enjoyed by a very small minority of private sector employees, so you're making an apples to oranges comparison here.
my2cents wrote:
"...the funds for the PD and FD are 100% funded and have been."
From the city of Naperville FY09 report, page 61:
CITY OF NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS
Notes to Financial Statements
April 30, 2009
61
(f) Funded status
The funded status of the three plans as of December 31, 2008 for IMRF and as of April 30, 2009 for the Police Pension Plan and Firefighters’ Pension Plan based on actuarial valuations performed as of the same date, is as follows. The actuarial assumptions used to determine the funded status of the plans are the same actuarial assumptions used to determine the employer APC of the plans as disclosed in Note 9-(c):
Illinois Municipal || Police || Firefighters'
Retirement Pension Pension Actuarial accrued liability (AAL)
$128,284,945 || $121,570,634 || $112,222,135
Actuarial value of plan assets
98,292,751 || 68,738,434 || 68,806,896
Unfunded actuarial accrued liability(UAAL)
29,992,194 || 52,832,200 || 43,415,239
Funded ratio (actuarial value of plan assets/AAL)
76.6% || 56.5% || 61.3%
Covered payroll (active plan members)
54,644,370 || 15,997,712 || 16,253,897
UAAL as a percentage of covered payroll
54.9% || 330.2% || 267.1% (like, zoinks!!!)
'nuff said. Well maybe only 96 million since the IMRF shortfall is not directly on the Naperville taxpayer neck.
-1
Once again, where are these numbers coming from? The pension funds for the city are not 100 million in deficit, you are making this up, the funds for the PD and FD are 100% funded and have been. I could argue about contributions but these public workers have no choice, they have to be in a pension, they don't get the profit sharing or bonuses that private sector employees get. Just because you lost in the market don't blame the people that are there for you when you need them. Perhaps if our local idiot Furstenau hadn't cost the city millions we would not have lost so much, blame him!
By my2cents on February 4, 2010 12:16 AM
Anonymous
Your statement of 75-85% pensions is completely wacked. Cops and firefighters get 50% no insurance after age 50 and minimum of 20 years of service. Discontinuing pensions would actually cost the taxpayer more.
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If I am wacked I am not sure what you are...
1. Police Officers and Fire Fighters obtain 75% pensions after age 50 with 30 years of employment.
2. Discontinuing pensions that cost the taxpayers 25% of the gross pay of police officers and fire fighters could not possibly cost the taxpayer more. Not logical or coherent.
3. If there were no pensions the city would not have near a 100 million pension deificit.
4. The city has a near 100 million pension deficit despite matching contributions from the taxpayers equal to 25% of gross pay of city employees.
You could say I am wacked up but the facts seem to indicate you are the one who is truly wacked up and possibly a recipient or secondary beneficiary of these unaffordable pensions.
At least the city council is pushing very hard for legislative state action to curb these pensions. I believe state wide support now exists that will reduce these pension in at least half, increase personal contributions by safety employees by 50% and possibly save the pension system after bankruptcy, which will relieve the taxpayers of the billions of pension deficits through out the cities and state.
Basically, after bankrupting all cities and the state, we need to start the pension system all over again, paying pensions that are affordable as opposed to ones that are simply not affordable.
Or even better putting all government employees on the Social Security System and treating private and public sector employees in an equitable and fair manner. I have no problem with city employees earning bonuses if they can stay under budget. There must be measures and motivation to push for efficiency and fiscal responsibility in government, something unfortunately lacking in both our city and state.
In a nutshell, all, most government employees know how to do is create deficits and then ask the taxpayers for more money to plug the deficits. This game has gotten very very old. Time for real change. Naperville should lead the way to reform and apparently is priortizing reform. Good luck, Naperville.
Anonymous
Your statement of 75-85% pensions is completely wacked. First off the general office worker gets an IRMF pension and they have to work until 60 and after 30 years of service then they get a 50% pension, no insurance. Cops and firefighters get 50% no insurance after age 50 and minimum of 20 years of service.Discontinuing pensions would actually cost the taxpayer more. Disolving unions could and never would happen, they protect the workers from the employers who would and have taken advantage of them. The non-union employees have no choice in 0 raises and increased health care costs while the unions have a contract that would have to be negotiated for any changes, not fair to the non-union employees but that was what the union offers, protection. In the private sector there has been profit sharing, bonuses and other perks that municipal employees do not get. Also something to consider, firefighters and cops don't get social security as the average citizen does when they retire. There is plenty of blame to go around and our elected politicians are not doing their job, wasting money n an electrical grid the citizens don't want but it goes on anyway. Ripping up garden plots to spend more tax money on ball fields. I don't understand the system anymore.
By Anonymous on February 2, 2010 11:59 PM
And your next proposal of paying the entire premium is not much more realistic. How is it you could possibly propose that someone making $40,000 a year could begin to pay $19,000 for an insurance premium?
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I am not proposing someone making 40k should pay 19k for health premums. I am proposing someone making 40k buy a policy he or she can afford. The city of Naperville is apparently buying the best insurance policy in the nation that money can buy for their employees at taxpayer expense. Couldn't they buy policies with high deductibles and higher co-pays to cut this cost in a third so employees can afford their own health insurance as is happening in Corporate Amercia where employees now pay a majority of their premiums?
Keep in mind medical insurance is only one benefit of a dozen or so city employees receive. Pension costs to the taxpayers are running about a quarter of employee wages which would amount to 10k in the example you provided.
Thus these 2 benefits alone cost taxpayers 29k for a 40k employee. If you add the other 10-12 benefits, you will find the benefit package of employees exceeds the gross pay of the employees in the City of Naperville.
This is the root cause of our budget crisis. A city as wealthy as Naperville should never have a budget crisis. Bellwood, Cicero, Harvey and Maywood where homes are 50-150k, I can understand having financial shortfalls. But Naperville with homes ranging from 300k to 6 million should be doing much better and not struggling in the severe manner it is currently suffering from annual 8 digit shortfalls.
Our city council needs to take responsibility for giving poor guidance to our City Manager. The taxpayers need to take responsibility for electing the wrong 9 individuals to run this town. In other words, we the residents need to take the blame for what happened to this city and why our taxes are constantly rising. Taxes should have declined with the massive spread in this town of expensive homes.
We simply and naively elect candidates with the most illegal signs on easement property whom are connected to city hall which allows them to violate the law and be elected. Try installing a sign on easement property if you are not connected to City Hall. The police or code enforcement personnal will write you a ticket the next day and confiscate your sign. In a nutshell, this is what is wrong with the situation. Change would be desirable.
Anonymous wrote:
While I believe city employees should pay a greater percentage of the cost of their health care benefits, your claim that most corporations are moving toward having their employees pay the full cost is BS.
A city can't run itself and when the economy picks up and better jobs become available you better believe Naperville is going to lose the few remaining good people that are left over there.
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Why would anyone leave the public sector to work in the private sector when the public sector gives 75-85% pensions while the private sector gives for the most part almost no pensions anymore? Not even a gold watch after 45 years of plowing like donkeys is earned in the private sector any longer.
Plus you can retire in your early 50s in the public sector while you have to work till your mid 60's in the private sector.
I think it is not time for non-union to join union employees, but to dissolve all unions nationwide. Unions have created our financial crisis both in the public and private sector. Almost all manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas leaving factories shuttered as foreign workers will work for reasonable wages and benefits while our workers want 40-50 bucks to work on a factory line that requires no brains...many of these factory jobs that have not been shipped overseas yet are now actually performed with robots that have no brains...not kidding!
I expect our unemployment rate to increase from 11% to 22% in the next 5-10 years due to the stupidity of the Republican and Democratic parties who appear dumber than each other. Hello, how about some tariffs on all imported goods to protect our jobs. Taxes raised from import tarriffs could reduce our income and real estate taxes substantially. Why are we protecting China instead of the good ole USA?
Private companies also ship their jobs that can not be roboted and require some brain power overseas to fight unions.
In the public sector, municipalities give employees whatever they want until the taxpayers can no longer afford the burden of taxation. I believe we have reached this point and that is why the taxpayers are finally fighting back and city officials are reacting. If it was not for our crisis, city officials would have done nothing. They are not pro-active...only re-active.
Anonymous, Even if all 970 remaining employees added their 1%, your figure would be less than $200,000. That hardly will take care of your garbage fee. And your next proposal of paying the entire premium is not much more realistic. How is it you could possibly propose that someone making $40,000 a year could begin to pay $19,000 for an insurance premium? Because that is exactly what you are proposing. And you are smoking something if you think salaries exceed corporations and the private sector. The only thing they have over you is a pension- for now. Get some facts.
"Their starting salaries at all positions now subtantially exceed the private sector in most cases and their total benefits package is 10 times as good."
And how do you know all this? I think it's time for all the non-union people to join a union and be done with this nonsense. It's time they stopped getting the raw end of the deal. A city can't run itself and when the economy picks up and better jobs become available you better believe Naperville is going to lose the few remaining good people that are left over there.
By Anonymous on February 2, 2010 5:56 AM
Anonymous on 2/1 at 9:03
You think increasing the employee contribution to health care premiums by 1% is going to take care of the budget deficit? Get real.
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I think the 1% will ONLY eliminate the 60 dollar garbage fee. That is what I said. Please don't insert statements I never made. Get real yourself. Thank you.
If employees, union and non-union paid their entire health premiums, we would have a budget surplus.
The City of Naperville pays over 15 million for health premiums annually and our yearly budget deficit is less than that.
I am for all employees, big shots and small shots, tall and short, old and young, sick and healthy, paying their full health premiums.....especially the City Council who only work a few hours a month and receive full benefits. Most corporations are either doing that or in the process.
Why should city of Naperville employees be exempted? Their starting salaries at all positions now subtantially exceed the private sector in most cases and their total benefits package is 10 times as good....at least.
Anonymous on 2/1 at 9:03
You think increasing the employee contribution to health care premiums by 1% is going to take care of the budget deficit? Get real.
The council, who by the way get Health insurance even though other part time city workers DO NOT, voted to increase premium contributions to 30%. (I wonder if they pay any of their premium?) Of course this only applies to the non union workers who are once again singled out. Bear in mind that when pay scales were determined for all of these positions, it is the practice of the City of Naperville to pay at the 50th percentile of similar communities. So you have a wage and benefits PACKAGE that has been greatly devalued. Other communities, like Aurora, have their employees pay a percentage of their income for health care so the lowly front line employee making $40,000 annually does not pay the same amount as Mr. Big Shot making 3 times as much. Of course, they also get retirement health care benefits which Naperville does not.
I think the minority non-union employees are all doing their fair share to balance the budget. The Mayor's hint of throwing furlough days in on top of everything else is disgusting. There is a break point in doing more with less. I suppose it will come eventually when the job market opens up, the City starts losing employees and has to become competitive once again.
Experienced,
The majority in Naperville with household incomes a little shy of 150k itemize. Moving the garbage from a tax to a fee will screw over better than 95% of the population.....there may be a handful of senior citizens who may not be affected as you stated but they will not benefit, while most senior citizens who itemize will suffer.
But does that justify screwing 95% or more of the residents by the City of Naperville by taking a tax deduction away? Does that justify burdening us with 12 monthly bills of $5 dollars each for garbage collection? That is a waste of valuable time. And since some seniors don't use the internet, they will be pasting 44 cents stamps on their bills and wasting their gas to get to the nearest mail box of post office.
As I stated earlier, if we are concerned about 60 dollars, let us increase the premiums city employees pay from 10% to 11% and that should take care of the problem and the few senior citizens whose tax returns you voluntarily do.
Experienced
I agree, these ideas are all a bunch of gimicks to cover up the idea of "holding the real estate taxes in check" even through the bad markets, the assessed evaluations keep going up. They use a tricky formula to get around the home prices dropping. Sooner or later property taxes will go up, may as well be now before we have no one working at city hall but the politicians. They keep getting health insurance too in case some of you out there didn't know, not bad for a PART TIME JOB!
By Anonymous on February 1, 2010 12:58 PM
Plus it is tax deductible to EVERYONE as long as it remains in the real estate tax bill right where it is and belongs.
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Not everyone itemizes deductions. I prepare senior tax returns on a volunteer basis, and I've seen the number of seniors itemizing decrease sharply over the last few years. Therefore, not everyone can deduct real estate taxes. This is especially true for senior citizens who have paid off their homes and don't have deductible mortgage interest. With the standard deduction for a married couple of $11,400 plus $1100 each for being over 65 plus the flat real estate tax add on of $1000 whether or not the garbage is included, most seniors won't see any benefit from added in garbage costs.
Aurora has had a sticker system for years and it works just fine. Recycleable materials are collected at no additional cost. We purchase stickers for the garbage cans and attach them when we put the garbage out.
For my family (4 people all over the age of 16), we tend to recycle as much as possible and don't even need to put out our garbage can every week. We do put out 3 recycling bins a week - 2 for cardboard and paper, and 1 for cans, plastics, etc. The neighbors across the street (also 4 people, age 14 and up) put out 2-3 garbage cans and one recycling bin. I would really not be happy if I was paying the same amount as those neighbors on my taxes or waste bill or however the city would decide to bill it.
The sticker system is fair in that you pay for the garbage you produce. It also encourages recycling.
Experienced,
Life is full of bills that are exhausting to pay...very time consuming. Do you want to split everything in the real estate tax bill into components causing us to receive 25-50 additional bills in the mail? No thank you! I receive more than enough junk mail I have to sort through daily.
Leave the garbage alone. It is a gimmick by city officials to pretend they are holding the line on our real estate taxes by removing a line item...bull. Plus it is tax deductible to EVERYONE as long as it remains in the real estate tax bill right where it is and belongs.
If they want to truly reduce our real estate taxes $60 per year, they can pay an extra few bucks towards their massive health premiums. Moving an expense from a tax to a fee is insulting gimmickery. A few more bucks towards their health premiums and they could have prevented the lay-offs of their brethren during and after the Holidays.
Would it kill them to pay 15 or 20% of their health premiums instead of only 10% of their premiums?
City employees and especially their bosses need to make proper sacrifices and not to exepct the taxpayers to bail them out from their wasteful ways of the past.
By my2cents on January 31, 2010 7:53 PM
Why should a retired couple pay the same garbage fee as a family of 4 or 5 that generates more garbage?
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The answer is a sticker system where you pay for the amount of garbage that you dispose. Putting it in the general real estate tax causes the amount you pay for garbage to be determined by the value of your home, not the amount of garbage. The tax savings for the itemized deduction for garbage is probably a few dollars per year--assuming you itemize which is becoming less of a certainty for retired people.
These fees are all a waste, why so afraid to raise property taxes? This way you tax fairly and it is a deduction at tax time as opposed to the other garbage fees, gas tax, etc. Why should a retired couple pay the same garbage fee as a family of 4 or 5 that generates more garbage? A tax is a tax, why worry about where it comes from, typical government retoric
Cutting people as part of some huge reorganization that never actually happened based on the results of thousands of dollars wasted on a "study". A handful of lives turned upside down while everyone else who isn't in management or a union struggles to simply survive. No communication, benefits slashed, the protected continue to do nothing and milk the system while the actual workers make less and less. Who will pay the gas tax and the garbage "fee"? The same people who are being run over day after day after day while those who just don't get it live business as usual and pretend that paying more for health insurance when you make 100,000 a year is a sacrifice without ever understanding how paying that same amount on $15 an hour is an ending to a way of life. If anyone cared, there might be some hope - but no one does .... it's proven again and again and again. There truly is no hope left in Naperville.
Government entities that have employees on any level, federal, state, county or city can not establish a 401k plan unless that plan was established prior to 1986. New legislation enacted by the Internal Revenue System prevents new 401k plans from being set up for employees after that date. Government employees can establish a 457g plan instead.
Maybe I'm missing something, but if a company 401(k) plan is what virtually all private sector employees have for retirement, why should public employees get a different and far-more-costly pension plan? Almost all private sector employers closed out their pension plans years ago in favor of a 401(k) plan with employer contribution. What is the argument against the public employees doing the same? (especially in the worst public sector financial crisis in 40 years)
Mr. Wehrli asked for ways to help cut the budget. How about cutting out the Council's newspaper and magazine subscriptions; cutting out their expenditure allowances; cutting back on their pay for the "job" that they are supposedly doing; and making them come to City Hall and pick up the agenda packages instead of having a city employee delivering it to their homes and using the City's gas and vehicles. More importantly, "working" employees are being cut from their jobs and the City needs to start looking at how many "working" supervisors we have versus "nonworking" managers looking over "nonworking" supervisors looking over "overworked working" employees. Maybe cutting some of these "nonworking" supervisor positions and cutting out some of the above suggestions would help close the budget.
I agree with you, Anonymous, when you said that "whether it is the crooks running the casinos or the government running the lotteries I just don't find enough excitement in any of it to allow any money move from my pocket to someone else's."
The lottery is nothing more than a tax on the poor and an "activity" for those who can't do math. As Dave Ramsey, the get out of debt guru, says, it's interesting that you never hear real millionaires brag about how they made their money through the lottery (i.e. gambling) or by the points or cash they got back by adding to their debt by using credit cards. The casinos in Las Vegas brag on their billboards that they return over 97% of the money people use to gamble. Interestingly, the piddly 3% they keep built that city, and playing the lotto has caused more people to spend way more of their income than they ever win. It's stupidity; but then, stupidity is still not illegal in this country. And I hardly think that adding gambling within any community's borders is going to save civil servant jobs and/or make for a balanced city budget.
If the decision on whether on not to lay off more police and fire comes down to video poker then god help us all.
Personally I've never seen the logic or draw of gambling. Everyone knows that you loose way more than you ever win... otherwise places like Las Vegas would be completely bankrupt. And even the taxes on what you win are not fair in terms of tax deductions on gambling losses. Whether it is the crooks running the casinos or the government running the lotteries I just don't find enough excitement in any of it to allow any money move from my pocket to someone else's.
I think we would be better off without any kind of gambling. Once the crooked politicians cracked the door open with the lottery we should have all known there would be no going back and just constant nibbling around the edges until we end up with what we have today... and that is still not the end... there is still a lot more nibbling to come.
In light of our budget shortfalls, wasn't it dumb to ban video poker and the revenue it brings? Regulate, control and tax it but don't ban it. There are casinos in Joliet and Aurora contributing tax dollars to those communities but we're above that I guess because of the "evils" gambling will bring to our streets. But a new law says it's OK to sit in your house or car and make a wager from your cellphone on a horse race. Please, someone tell me the difference. I'll tell you one difference, one generates tax income for the state and local community the other doesn't. I hope Will County officials are smarter than those in DuPage (and Napeville)or you're gonna see more and more layoffs of policeman and fireman.
By Experienced on January 18, 2010 7:24 PM,
"Illinois law allows police to disregard traffic laws while enforcing the law."
That was not exactly a completely true statement. Police under most normal conditions must obey all traffic laws just like anyone else driving a vehicle. Police vehicles are equipped with lights and sirens to warn other motorists when a police vehicle (or other emergency vehicles like fire engines or ambulances) are responding to an emergency and may not be strictly adhering to all of the "rules of the road". Even when operating with lights and sirens a police vehicle is still required to operate in a reasonably prudent manner and must yield the right of way to other traffic when attempting to proceed thru a stop sign or other traffic signal. If cross traffic does recognize the police vehicle, stops, and yields to it the police vehicle can proceed against a traffic signal, but the police vehicle is still required to proceed with caution.
By Mr. J. P. on January 18, 2010 1:43 PM
Police are NOT above the law.
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Illinois law allows police to disregard traffic laws while enforcing the law.
By Mr. J. P. on January 18, 2010 1:43 PM,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news to you but there is not such thing as a "shortcut through a residential neighborhood"... As taxpayers we all have free use of all public roads day and night. Ever see one of those "No Thru Traffic" signs? Ever see anyone get ticketed? Those signs serve more as official intimidation than legal standing in a court of law. Of course the intimidation value isn't to be discounted in terms of how many might give up a day at work to actually fight it out in open court.
Speeding on any street is another matter and if someone is speeding on a residential street they should be ticketed. Of course those of us who have lived in Naperville for a while remember when the legal speed on all side streets was 30 mph. Of course 30 meant 35 and something had to be done. The prevailing wisdom at the time was lowering it to 25 would keep the majority to 30 or below. But then again 20-30 years ago the planners at city hall were amateurs which accounts for the serious lack of railroad and river crossings in this town which render the major arteries to parking lots during rush hour. Is it really any wonder that some motorists have figured out that 30 mph in residential neighborhoods is still faster than some of the traffic is moving on major streets?
Let's face it. We have a totally inept and incompetent traffic department. By traffic department I'm including those aspects that lie with the engineering and streets department as well as those aspects of traffic that lie with the Police Department. Neither department coordinates well with what the other are doing and frequently point the finger at each other. I'll let you guess which finger they point. Regardless, we all pay the price with increasingly worse traffic, no plan, and no end in sight.
My hope is that the city deficit gets so bad that eventually these incompetents will have to be cut from staff along with all of the other dead weight and fat that is costing us dearly. Maybe in a few years when and if things turn around and we can afford it again we can hire some real traffic engineers who will roll up their sleeves and actually start improving traffic on local roads.
Mr. J.P.,
Then let's get rid of the cops who park on sidewalks, and keep the ones who ticket speeders endangering lives in residential neighborhoods.
-JQP
John Q. Public wrote:
"That, or maybe there are too many cars taking a shortcut through a residential neighborhood at unsafe speeds, and the people who live in the area are fed up with it."
Maybe so, but then again, maybe not. It's all opinion. On the other hand, a week beforehand I almost did a double-take when I saw a motorcycle cop parked on the pedestrian sidewalk on Diehl Rd. at Centre Point Circle, between Naperville Road and Washington Street, crouched down over the handlebars with his speed gun, trying to catch speeders going westbound on Diehl Rd. This is NOT opinion: Police are NOT above the law. If any of us parked our motorized vehicles ON THE PEDESTRIAN SIDEWALK on Diehl Road, we'd be ticketed and our cars would most probably be towed. If that's what the cops in our town are allowed to do, then I say eliminate a few salaries.
Mr. J.P. wrote:
That, or maybe there are too many cars taking a shortcut through a residential neighborhood at unsafe speeds, and the people who live in the area are fed up with it.
The City Manager either needs to put his foot down and stop the insane spending on meters and car counters or make an open statement of support for these projects and ask the City Council to give him a vote of confidence.
If the City Manager doesn't have the authority to kill these projects, he should resign and find a real job.
PS
As to the police department, a lot of crime does not happen in Naperville because the criminal avoid our police department and look for easier targets. Cutting the police head count to punish the tax payers is an old game.
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"What we need our units of local government to do is to start using consultants that are working in the best interest of the TAXPAYER and not in the best interest of the city manager and his staff who employ the consultants. This kind of economic reality simply needs to be handled either directly by the city council or indirectly through a citizen commission that reports to the city council."
When there is time for police to set up speed traps with unmarked cars on residential Olesen Lane, between Gartner and Chicago Ave., at 06:30am on a weekday morning (as I saw last week), then we obviously have way too many police on the payroll. Time to lose the fat.
It's time that Naperville, like all the families that live here and fund the city's payroll and programs, learns to live within a balanced budget.
The Police Department isn't an easy target any more than it is a sacred cow.
From the numbers given by city hall at least another 100 positions have to be cut UNLESS they start to address other aspects of the budget like $11M for an electric grid that none of us need or want or KNEW ABOUT until it was surprised upon us or other really questionable things like $3M to count cars in a parking garage. I don't have any special love for wasting tax money on unneeded civil servants, but if we are going to waste money I would rather do in on someone who has a family to feed than something as absurd as counting cars for God's sake.
Somehow private businesses and public corporation can find the right kind of consultants who know where to look, the questions to ask, etc. to pare down and right size in the private sector when times are tough. What we need our units of local government to do is to start using consultants that are working in the best interest of the TAXPAYER and not in the best interest of the city manager and his staff who employ the consultants. This kind of economic reality simply needs to be handled either directly by the city council or indirectly through a citizen commission that reports to the city council.
I think the Police Department has become an easy target - and unless someone actually works within that department, it's difficult if not impossible to judge proper staffing to an absolute certainty. They may well be overstaffed, and cuts may well be justified, but most likely there are far more behind the curtain jobs that are useless - that no one would ever even notice if there wasn't someone in - and those will never be addressed. The problem is not specific to any single department, but releasing police department staff makes news and makes it appear something is being done before taxes are increased. Who did the consultants they brought in talk to when determining what the best staffing levels and structure should be? My guess from previous experience with similar projects - upper management and their designates. How many of those people are going to say - "oh yeah, we have positions and people we keep here that are basically useless - it's just too hard to let them go, and we certainly don't want to let ON that we don't need someone, because then we will lose that position forever." The question is, how much money could be saved if productivity was truly addressed across the board as opposed to managing appearances and focusing on the area's that make an impression on the public.
Insider,
If you think the Electric Department and other public work vehicles have nothing to do you should try following some Naperville Police cars around some time.
Case in point. The Naperville Police and their union want to see the same police staffing levels that are found in crime ridden places such as Chicago. Have a traffic accident in Chicago and you have to wait a long time for a patrol car to show up and unless it is a really bad accident all you get is one patrol car. Have an automobile accident in Naperville, even a minor accident, and it isn't uncommon to see 3 or 4 police cars responding... not that they end up doing any "public service" like directing traffic AROUND the accident. For more than a minor incident they send even more police cars. Ever seen a car get pulled over late at night? Within minutes there will be 3-4 more police cars converging on the scene for back-up. All of this is indicative of too many police officers with too little to do who are eager to get involved with anything going on to keep from going brain dead.
Based upon the crime rate and the size of Naperville the Police Department is WAY overstaffed. I would like to know who and what data is being used to justify all of this wasted police talent? Let's not forget that unlike other towns we require our Police Officers to have a college degree. Much of this is waste of good talent and most of these educated Police Officers would be better off moving to other town with lower requirements where they would stand out and advance more rapidly. With such an educated baseline of Police Officers there is little to no reason for the legions of middle managers within the Police Department. This is where the biggest waste and most cuts are needed. Our Police Officers are better educated and better trained than at any time in past history and do not need an outdated 1920 model of supervision. If these police officers can not be empowered to act properly on the street without this level of supervision then we should start to question the exact need for the educational criteria which has driven up our base line cost to operate our Police Department in the first place.
To Anonymous:
Thanks for the information about the budgeting process and the radio system. As I indicated, I was unsure about the radio system's compatibility -- I still am, but for now, will accept that you are correct and I was wrong.
I may not be as familiar with municipal budgeting as you are, but my point was, and is, that there is only a budgeted saving, not a real saving from cutting non existent jobs. I spent 30 years in business, the past 20+ as president of a publicly owned manufacturing company and I do know a few things about budgets and savings and the pain of layoffs.
From my experience, I know that the costs of meeting a payroll do not change unless the number of people getting paid changes. ( A reduction in rates or hours will do the same thing, but won't save on benefit costs).
I freely admit I don't have the specific counts, but as an example, I think you are suggesting that if there are 100 jobs filled today, and we budget for 120 next year, we must fund those 120 jobs. I agree. However, if we decide, for some reason, that we must get by with only 105 jobs, you see that as a saving of 15 jobs. I see an increase of 5.
I will say that I have always had superior service from the city. Any request, question, email, etc has had a prompt response. That's commendable, but it doesn't prove that there is no waste or excess.
As an example, perhaps not typical, but a real example nonetheless, the last time I was in City Hall was to get a handicap parking tag. There were 3 people available to wait on me. (This was two years ago.) It was excellent service....but as a taxpayer, I can no longer afford to finance that level of service.
That is my only point. I do not believe that the city has been a good fiduciary with respect to tax dollars. Others may disagree and that is their right.
Times are tough and tough times call for difficult actions....Layoffs are certainly one unfortunate result...but it's nothing that hasn't been the norm in the private sector for quite some time.
While I feel the pain and shortfalls of those who were laid-off, I agree with the comments by all the past posts. Our tax dollars are thrown around like this is a baseball game. Thrown around like the pot of money is bottomless. Yes I too voted these City leader into office but they don't seem to carry much fiscal responsibility, shame on me.
Why are we spending 10 million or so on a smartgrid? 3 million on a electronic car counter for the parking garage?
Even though I don't like to see layoffs I believe our City leaders need to look at many City departments and what they actually produce. As I have traveled throughout the City for 20 years I often see many City vehicles manned with employees, sitting in parking lots just doing nothing. For years on Saturdays I observed our Electric Department trucks arrive at a local restaurant at 8:20 am on a Saturday(their shift started at 8am) and sit there until 9:30 or 10:00am. Why? Our Public works staff drives around town with nothing to do.
Good luck to all, I hope that our leaders take off the blinders and start looking at the whole City and the necessary services, how those are delivered and those who deliver them.
Sam, perhaps you are not familiar with the budgeting process, but every approved position must be budgeted for and funded regardless of whether it is vacant or not. When they cut a position, filled or not, they save the costs against that liability, so yes that does cut the budget. As a normal course of business, positions do not go unfilled, but in this case, they were purposefully held vacant. Not only does it cut spending in this fiscal year (added bonus) but it goes toward balancing the future budget years.
Everyone seems to think these people did nothing since the positions were vacant so it is no big sacrifice. Call city hall and see if you get voice mail. They are all doing more with less.
And the radio system is replacing a system over 20 years old, failing regularly. Naperville and Aurora completed an open bid legal process to obtain the new system. I understand that DuPage was involved with this group originally but dropped out in favor of a sole source. The last article I saw said Naperville has set up their system to be interoperable with whatever DuPage ends up with, so what is the problem?
It's very sad to see anyone get laid off these days. My best wishes to all of the laid off city workers. I hope you get good jobs again very quickly.
First of all, I understand how difficult the job cuts are to those directly affected. No one likes to lose a job and no one likes to take away anyone's job. Sadly, current conditions have resulted in a lot of "downsizing" across all areas of employment.
That said:
Glad to see most posters recognize that "eliminating" vacant jobs doesn't save a dime....It's more of an increase in spending that wasn't approved.
I'm more than a little concerned by Councilman Fiesler's comment that he wants to know when we feel the pain...that sounds a little like "let's cut the things that are most painful for the taxpayer and then, perhaps the taxpayer will be more willing to accept a tax increase"
Finally, along with the $11 million for the smart grid, can we revisit last year's decision to spend $10 million on interoperable radios....I know they had benefits beyond interoperability, but that was the biggie. From what I've read, it seems as if Naperville's choice may be out of step with the rest of DuPage county. If that's true, can we review how we decided to spend that much money without a sense of what the rest of the county was going to choose? Maybe my memory is off on the details, if so, someone please correct me.
This is awesome!
Stop the smart grid and save 11 million!!!!!
To By e^(i*pi),
From an actuarial perspective everyone has a slightly different theoretical rating based upon all kinds of factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, family health history, personal health history, occupation, etc., etc., etc.
No doubt that older and retired workers consume more health care dollars. We aren't exactly cracking new eggs here. By the same token younger workers often have little or no health issues.
From the tone of what you have posted it seems like you think older workers should pay their "fair share" instead of the pass thru cost that they are currently paying. Let's not forget that these workers didn't create the system and theoretically have banked dozens of years of past contributions towards future expenses.
If you want to see the system reformed to something like individual automobile insurance where everyone pays based upon age, gender, experience, record, type of automobile, etc. it is going to cause some real headaches for sure. On one hand the younger, single workers will see their rates plummet. Workers just starting families will see their costs soar. Older workers will also see their rates soar and will also be impacted by a fixed income.
Be careful what you wish for in terms of retired workers. Just look at any senior citizen and you are getting a free snapshot of what your own life will be like in a few short years.
to e^
I understand your health care question better now and it does bring a point, not sure how much it does affect the cost to the city, perhaps with the health care debate it will not matter but who knows.
I do have an idea for more city revenue, start fining the wonderful liter of political signs violating the city ordinance. Fine each violator $100 per sign posted illegally, that could bring in more $$ then the red light cameras. Of course our city councilmen would be shooting themselves in the foot if they did that since most of them if not all post illegal signs albeit from their volunteers but they still should be held responsible. Just wait for the snow to melt and those signs will be blowing all over the place.
Why are you worried about how much it cost?
Obama and Bush can borrow all the money we want from China and our children can pay it back.
If that fails, the Treasury or Federal Reserve can just print up all the money we need for everything we want at any price.
If Naperville needs more money, Durbin can print some up and bring it over to City Hall in trash bags. This is a great government and economy we have!
Durbin can print enough that the City can give everyone that is unemployed a job at full Union Wages with full benefits.
Stop all the negativity!
Can the last laid of city worker please remember to turn out the lights on their way out the door?
To By Anonymous on January 10, 2010 7:28 AM,
"If we can no longer afford to be the world class "City of Naperville", maybe someone should tell the council."
World Class? Naperville? Or just more cheap rhetoric that sounds good and can be spouted off by anyone at any time? Without a universally accepted definition or an objective rating system any community can claim that they are world class. As such, Warrenville isn't any less of a world class community than Naperville.
I'll try one more time. Numbers for example only. I understand that the retiree is responsible for the health insurance premium. What the correct premium should be is the question.
1000 employees (say average age 45).
100 retirees (say...60-64 y/o).
Coverage for 1000 employees ALONE might be $1000 per month.
Add in 100 people aged 60-64 and the average cost goes UP for any plan the city might purchase since the average age/utilization will certainly increase.
I am trying to see if the city sees the "cost" as what the plan costs averaged over all 1100 people or whether they can tell how much more it actually costs to add in the extra 100 retirees.
As I recall, there are also plan administration costs and stop-loss costs which do not appear to be passed on to the retirees. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. I am not sure.
COBRA coverage can last for (?)18 months and apparently during the COBRA period there cannot be differential charges.
A prior suggestion was to have a different plan for the retirees who are out of the COBRA period and charge them what it actually costs instead of having the younger employees/taxpayers indirectly subsidize the retirees when the the retirees are averaged in.
My repeat question is: Does the city have a mechanism to extract the extra cost out of the retiree?
If someone responds that the per person cost of health insurance is the same for 1000 people with average age of 45 and for the same group with 100 60 year-olds added in, I'd say that the insurance company is charging too much for the first group.
I may be missing something obvious...
e^(i*pi)
e^
Just to answer your specifics, Cobra coverage is not the true way retirees get healthcare. They pay 100% of the cost at no extra to the taxpayer, and unless they have age, they do not get medicare coverage. If a retiree was getting medicare then the insurance would not be allowed. Again at 20 years of service the pension is 50% and after 30 years it increases to a maximum of 75%, no health care is included in this.
It may be 75 percent pension for police and fire but that is not the case with every other employee in IMRF. Look it up. The rest of them get could get a max of 65 percent if they work there for at least 35 years. Not a bad deal but how many actually stay that long? And what they basically get for retirement insurance is the right to buy off the city contract as they pay the full premium cost.
Also, the City did not just get rid of all entry level personnel making the lowest salaries so your average income is askew. There were high level mgt. and other very long term employees, all allegedly based on the Clerestory study. Thanks for your lifetime of service, now get out. These people were not unionized.
Were any union employees terminated? I would be surprised if they were touched. They have continued to receive their negotiated raises and possibly managed to escape the ax twice. For a city that does not seem to like unions, they have a strange way of showing it.
For over a year, this council has required that any vacant position must receive their approval before a replacement can be hired. Yet we still have ridiculous spending like the smart grid. If we can no longer afford to be the world class "City of Naperville", maybe someone should tell the council.
Anon (7:41) Please CLEARLY explain what I do or do not know. Or perhaps what you do or do not know. I strongly suspect you are mistaken in your claim about my knowledge base. Perhaps you can explain how insurance is purchased and priced.
If you have an answer to my question, please share. If you do not understand my question, please reread it.
If not...
Anon (9:39)... as an employer I can easily tell you that the cost per employee is much higher than what the average pay is.
e^(i*pi)
Using average numbers if 49 positions reduced the deficit by $3.6 million then it looks like the city still needs to cut another 101 positions to get this dog balanced. The better question is what is taking who so long to do what is blatantly obvious?
What seems to have escaped everyone is that when positions are getting cut it is usually the newest, lowest on the totem pole so to speak that get the proverbial axe... now drilling this down just a bit further... 49 positions will save us $3.6 million... and what do we find? Holy good gosh that works out to over $73,400 per position... and this is for the low man on the totem pole? Little wonder we have a budget deficit if this is what new hires are getting paid.
e^(i*pi)on: When you retire from the city, you have the option to by Blue Cross Insurance from the city at their cost.
To By e^(i*pi),
You CLEARLY have no clue as to how businesses or government units actually purchase health insurance...
To : By The Anti Tricky Dick F
I asked this a while back, and I am still unclear on the answer after reading city documents. Does the retiree (after Cobra but before Medicare) get the coverage at the city average or what it actually costs the city. These are very different numbers.
In the first case, although the retiree is paying for health care, it is partially subsidized by the taxpayer since older covered lives bring the average cost up. In the second case, the former employee is actually paying the real cost of the coverage. I suspect it is the first case where the taxpayer and other active employees are indirectly subsidizing the retirees. This is a subtle, but real financial question.
thanks,
e^(i*pi)
KENNY PRADEL: Get your facts straight pal...after 30 yrs of employment with the City of Naperville, you go out at 75% with NO health insurance. You are given the option to purchase it at the cost the city pays for it. God I hate it when people dont know what they are talking about!!!!
To "By The Anti Tricky Dick F. on January 8, 2010 7:44 PM
"The City of Naperville just got rid of a divorced mother with one child. This poor girl, who has been at the police department for eleven years is also battling cancer. Kicker is, she wasnt even the lowest in her division in senority. JUST MEAN SPIRITED!!!!!"
Do you honestly think anybody really cares about this? There are dozens of divorced mothers with one or more children spread all across Naperville who have lost their job in the last couple of years. Unfortunately tough decisions have to be made in both business and in government and it is easy to label such actions as mean spirited but if push comes to shove some kind of similar argument can be made for nearly everyone who loses their job... who do you know who doesn't have some kind of extenuating circumstances?
Just about everyone in the police department is unionized so if something was done wrong in terms of seniority the union will surely step in. If not then maybe all of the unionized government workers should start to question what in the heck they are getting for their union dues.
Thank you very much Mr. Anonymous...er, I mean Mr. Furstenau
"By Kenny Pradel on January 9, 2010 12:06 PM
The problem with Naperville government is the way we allow city employees pension plans to continue. Work for the city for 30 years and you can retire with 90% of your salary for the rest of you life as well as health care coverage for you and your family - for the rest of your life!!! Who is paying for this? Naperville taxpayers!!! Something is wrong with this picture!"
I heard you retire at 120% of your pay after 30 years and your family, plus the families that live to the right and left of you get health care for the rest of their lives.
C'mon get real!!!!!!! Where do you come up with this stuff!!!!!!!!
To "By The Anti Tricky Dick F. on January 8, 2010 7:44 PM
"The City of Naperville just got rid of a divorced mother with one child. This poor girl, who has been at the police department for eleven years is also battling cancer. Kicker is, she wasnt even the lowest in her division in senority. JUST MEAN SPIRITED!!!!!"
Do you honestly think anybody really cares about this? There are dozens of divorced mothers with one or more children spread all across Naperville who have lost their job in the last couple of years. Unfortunately tough decisions have to be made in both business and in government and it is easy to label such actions as mean spirited but if push comes to shove some kind of similar argument can be made for nearly everyone who loses their job... who do you know who doesn't have some kind of extenuating circumstances?
Just about everyone in the police department is unionized so if something was done wrong in terms of seniority the union will surely step in. If not then maybe all of the unionized government workers should start to question what in the heck they are getting for their union dues.
The problem with Naperville government is the way we allow city employees pension plans to continue. Work for the city for 30 years and you can retire with 90% of your salary for the rest of you life as well as health care coverage for you and your family - for the rest of your life!!! Who is paying for this? Naperville taxpayers!!! Something is wrong with this picture!
Did you know that instead of cutting Planning Department staff they ADDED a planner?
Anonymous - "While in a different department people who are known to sleep at their desks or barely know who/where they are go on blissfully employed. What is that about? HOW are these decisions made, and does anyone pay any attention at all to what's right or wrong or fair?"
Completely agreed. Allegedly, there are a few employees there on Facebook and iPods and such during work hours.
To the last poster: You entered your email address as your handle and I thought you probably didn't intend to do that so I changed it to anonymous. If you wanted your email address in there I can change it back for you, but I didn't want to cause any unintended trouble for you.
"By The Anti Tricky Dick F. on January 8, 2010 7:44 PM
The City of Naperville just got rid of a divorced mother with one child. This poor girl, who has been at the police department for eleven years is also battling cancer. Kicker is, she wasnt even the lowest in her division in senority. JUST MEAN SPIRITED!!!!!"
While in a different department people who are known to sleep at their desks or barely know who/where they are go on blissfully employed. What is that about? HOW are these decisions made, and does anyone pay any attention at all to what's right or wrong or fair?
Interesting article in today's Sun with some equally interesting quotes from our elected councilmen, to wit:
"Boyajian said the city has been very careful in doing everything possible 'if we can to have no impact on our residential and commercial constituents'." Really? Commercial constituents? Somebody pass the good councilman a dictionary so he can learn the meaning of constituent before he inserts foot in mouth again. And to think that the elected leader of a Republic has no clue how he got there...
Then there is what Bob Fiesler is quoted to have said: "He said he would like to hear from residents which consequences of the reduction in force are unacceptable. I would really like to start having that conversation with people." No kidding? You mean Bob that you actually went out... campaigned... got elected... and don't have a clue what the constituency in Naperville is thinking and only now have come to the conclusion that maybe it is time for you to have a finger on the pulse of the community? You really wowed me with that one. Bob, don't be terribly surprised if you don't have the heaviest ballot box come the end of the next election, ok?
As far as Doug Krieger and the rest of the gang at city hall... do any of you really think the citizens of Naperville are so stupid that they do not know that eliminating vacant, unfilled positions does not eliminate one dime of actual expense. It didn't take any brains or effort to eliminate the budgeted expense associated with unfilled positions, but all the citizens of Naperville are entitled to a credible explanation as to why it took this darn long to correct what essentially is nothing more than a bookkeeping correction.
Moving on what in the heck are you people actually doing to resolve the rest of this years budget shortfall? While you guys are wasting time and hoping for some kind of miracle let's not forget that the $12 million dollar deficit for next year is coming at you like a freight train. The voters already know they got screwed this year on their assessments to make up the budget difference. If you think you are going to pull that one two years in a row to make up the budget deficit on the backs of taxpayers when you refuse to reign in expenses, staffing levels and curtail expenditure programs I would strongly suggest it is time for each department head at city hall to get their resumes in order.
A better question is how many gross retail dollars were needed in the downtown sector to generate the sales tax equivalent of $300K just to pay for this stupid, stupid, stupid study?
An even better question is who is TCS International and who knows who in Naperville city government that TCS was awarded this sweetheart deal? How many other companies were solicited for a competitive bid? I can't believe a couple of electronic vehicle counters at each entrance could possibly cost this much.
Who says corruption is limited to Daley and Chicago politics?
If you want to know how our fine politicians are spending our hard earned tax dollars, look no further than the City Council meeting agendas and minutes. Do we really need to spend $300,000 dollars to figure out how many empty parking spaces are in the downtown parking garages?
"Staff recommends the award of RFQ 09-122, Parking Guidance Systems for Parking Decks, to TCS International, for an amount not to exceed $298,947.00, plus a 5% contingency."
The Mayor and all Councilmen present voted yes at the December 1, 2009 meeting.
The City of Naperville just got rid of a divorced mother with one child. This poor girl, who has been at the police department for eleven years is also battling cancer. Kicker is, she wasnt even the lowest in her division in senority. JUST MEAN SPIRITED!!!!!
Meanwhile....... at the Park District they are going to piss away money on the Joe Naper Park, which is completely un-needed and will add to the maintenance costs.
The State of IL just borrowed $3 billion to fund the unionized employees pensions, which will have to be paid for by all of the unemployed citizens of one of the three most likely States to go bankrupt: California, then New York, then Illinois... dominoes all.
At the rate Obama is spending, National Bankruptcy can't be too far off.
The City really needs to think about zero money from the State and Feds when they look at the budgets and come up with some contingency plans.
If it adds to the maintenance costs, don't do it.
If it will cut maintenance costs, do it.
Schaumberg pays approx $40 K starting salary for police officers; considering the unfolding national bankruptcy, maybe Naperville should cut its starting pay to avoid future lay offs of more officers?
Did the city cut the salaries of the remaining employees? Are the unions still getting pay raises during a deflationary depression?
To Annonymous
Do you live on Huffman STreet? The City spent millions to stop flooding where houses should have never been spent. The houses should have been condemned (including yours?)and destroyed.
The police union statistics are biased by high crime, inter city staffing. If you want more police, move to Chicago!!
This is Mayberry, we only need Andy and Barney!!!
This is another example of "a day late and a dollar short". If lay offs are necessary DO IT! Why wait for years before deciding you can't afford all your employees? Taxes in this town are obscene. I realize that there are other less effective ways to reduce expenditures and these should be incorpoarted as well. I find the council very disappointing because they seem detached from reality and refuse to give up those dreams that were no doubt forged in better economic times. I believe that its not going to be pretty to be an incumbent during elections for those in any level of governemnt.
Another example of an unresponsive, lethargic government that cares more about civil servants than it does about the fiscal consequences to the citizens who elected them to office. Too little, too late, and still not even close to what still needs to be done.
How long is it going to take for these guys to grow a spine and do what every citizen of Naperville already knows is necessary? It's no longer a question of if, only when. Denial and procrastination won't change the facts.
The choices really boil down to cutting some projects, cutting some staff, or a combination of the two. If these guys don't have the intestinal fortitude to stick a fork in it, come together and make tough decisions when needed, and get the budget mess resolved in a timely manner then we need to reward them accordingly at our next trip to the ballot box.
So far not one council member has demonstrated a single shred of leadership and collectively operate without any clear vision or direction. The mayor himself is the absolute worst example of leadership during a fiscal crisis, but who is to blame him? He has a high school diploma and has always been way out of his league when it comes to fiscal matters. As long as we continue to elect people because they are nice instead of because they are competent we will continue to have a void of real and effective leadership in Naperville.
Yeah, I live in an older section of the city, so by Napersouth Red's theory of cutbacks to 2002, I should be ok when it comes to having my streets plowed and fixed, my leaves picked up, my water meter repaired, my electric restored. Let's just forget about all the new growth since 2002 or 1995. Hope you are not part of that growth Red.
The fact is, once the infrastructure is built. It doesn't just sit there. It has to be maintained and its residents protected or none of us would want to live here anymore. Sure, there can be jobs eliminated in the building and development areas, along with the few "feel good" but unnecessary positions, but honestly this is not the City of Chicago, with tons of waste. There is a breaking point to doing more with less and they are getting close to eliminating 10% of the staffing. I saw the ad from the police FOP and object to public safety cuts if we are already well below the national average for police officers. How many cuts were there in the fire department and are they even going to staff that new station? Build it and "maybe" they will come. What is wrong with this picture!!!
The City should revert back to the staffing levels of 2002, before the real estate bubble and the major increases in taxes.
How can service be effected when nobody was doing the job last year (vacant positions)? Do the ghosts in City Hall do more work than the government workers?
What about furlough days for Krieger and the gang? Every other government that is short of money is doing that.
Is the planning department cut by 80% from the peak in 1995?
Too many sacred cows!!
Way to get on top of this, considering the city started doing this on Monday.
Take the $11 million the City is going to piss away on an Orwellian behavioral modification system (time sensitive electrical billing by the second) designed to punish Napervillians for bad behavior when they wash their clothes at the wrong time of day, and use the money to eliminate the budget gap.
All of the milk is coming from the same cow, Naperville tax payers.
Stop playing budget games!