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twitterLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
It’s no mystery why county faces cuts to the budget
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.
Regarding the Las Vegas Sun’s Thursday story “Cuts expected, but how much?”:
I can see why Clark County is doing a whole lot of hand-wringing about a $129 million shortfall. It spends millions to treat indigents at UMC, many of whom are illegal immigrants, and yet the county has no solution.
Traffic fines in the tens of millions of dollars go uncollected and taxpayers have no idea what, if anything substantial, the county is doing to recover the money. Even with a sales tax increase, Metro Police is woefully understaffed, yet the state says we cannot install traffic cameras for free as in St. Louis and other major metropolitan areas and split the fines with the contractor.
Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people living here avoid paying taxes by registering their cars and RVs elsewhere yet use county and state services.
Unlike most of the private sector, the county is saddled with overly generous, poorly negotiated union contracts that have no escape clauses. In private industry, the response to a major funding problem, in my experience, was to freeze hiring and cut the deadwood. If more savings were needed, we enacted temporary wage cuts, ranging from 2 percent at the bottom of the pay scale to 15 percent at the top.
All employees kept their jobs and the company didn’t have to rehire and retrain. In government, cutting the deadwood and employee wages is rarely, if ever, an option.
Discussion: 31 comments so far…
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Unlike most of the private sector, the county is saddled with overly generous, poorly negotiated union contracts that have no escape clauses.
Say that again.
Unlike most of the private sector, the county is saddled with overly generous, poorly negotiated union contracts that have no escape clauses.
Say that again.
Unlike most of the private sector, the county is saddled with overly generous, poorly negotiated union contracts that have no escape clauses.
Say that again.
Unlike most of the private sector, the county is saddled with overly generous, poorly negotiated union contracts that have no escape clauses.
Oh did we mention how the Union selects and gets Officials elected?
No future, we didn't. I would love to hear your spin on it.
If the county cut the deadwood from the employees, every building the county owns would be deserted.
jlb101, the poster child for the old adage
money cannot buy you happiness.
Hating on public employees will not balance the budget.
Did we forget there have already been pay cuts?
There is a point at which cutting salaries causes a boomerang effect.
Cutting "deadwood" was done, done again, and done a 3rd time already. Now, 1 employee/3 jobs.
I know some of you like jlb101 would prefer to have indentured servants slaving away for you in the public sector, but that's counter-productive.
Believe me when I say; The reason many of these good, solid working-class jobs pay well is that no one in their right mind would do them if it weren't for the pay & bennies. In large part because of people like jlb101. And they are LEGION.
Richard=Bigot
The wailer writes: "...millions to treat indigents at UMC, many of whom are illegal immigrants..."
Not to worry, the Obama socialized health care program will fix this little shortcoming in just a few minutes. Well, maybe a few minutes after Obama makes a decision on Afghanistan. And after Obama fixes the economy, the financial and housing crisis.
I am 100% with gmager on this one. Our City, County and State employees are the greatest.
I am going down to the DMC and will take a copy of this here post with me and show it to them at the information counter. Maybe then, they will give me one of those special numbers that will get me out of there within a couple of hours...
LarryVegas,
Don't you ever tire of posting stupid comments? Ever?
Thought not.
Speaking of the DMV, I asked one of the grunts at the booth why it took so long to get service i.e. 2-3 hours. He actually surprised me with a sharp answer:
"You all wanted the pols to avoid new taxes, so they make us take a "furlough" day or 2 each month. See those seven empty booths? They're on furlough today".
You get what you pay for, kids.
nednougat..."you get what you pay for, kids."
EXACTLY SO.
Gmag,
That is a bit pie in the sky. Government work often isn't all that difficult (you don't actually have to compete with anyone or worry about satisfying clients) and it offers great pay and benefits. Not to mention after a year or two (in many cases) it is very difficult to lose your job.
Nevada's state and local workers are some of the best paid in the country. Some, no doubt, are great workers. But all of them? Give me a break.
Oklahoma had privatized DMV offices. The waits averaged 10 minutes to renew your license and pay your registration fee.
The private sector faces competition. The private sector cannot take what it wants (without government help that is). The private sector has to satisfy the needs of the customers, keep them happy, and offer them a reasonable price in order to survive.
The government can keep a sour face, offer a low-quality service, treat customers poorly, make them wait for hours, and still get an income because they can take what they need by force.
That is why our DMV takes 2 hours or more to get things done. They aren't accountable to the people because they are not disciplined by the market.
Hey mschaffer...
Once in a while my stupid comments gets a discussion started unlike your "Richard=Bigot" post.
Thanks for your concern...
Excuse me, Pat... Where did I write that ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ARE GREAT WORKERS?
And I am shocked! SHOCKED! that you advocate privatization
as a means to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Talk about PIE IN THE SKY!
Also, Mr. Think Tank Worker, many of these jobs ARE difficult, and it's quite disingenuous of you to suggest otherwise. I'll assume you haven't actually DONE any of these jobs you claim are not "all that difficult."
Larry, Larry, Larry,
Why would I want to discuss anything with someone as narrow minded as you? You aren't interested in evidence or logic or admitting when you are wrong so only third parties might gain from my pointing out where you are wrong. I notice no one rushed to disagree with my statement about how obvious it is that the letter writer, Richard, is a bigot.
ms schaffer...
I can not figure it out either. You tell me why you would want to discuss anything with little narrow minded me.
gmager usually tells me that I am too negative, so today I gave good praise to our deserving public servants, and I get stomped on for being nice...
Larry;
Is it beer:30 yet? Perhaps a little lunch and a lite brew or 3 would help you see things in a more positive lite. er, light.
Good idea there gmager. I will get right on it...
I am amazed at the number of bloggers on this thread that do not post any statistical facts whatever, and do nothing but criticize. If you are not part of the solution, then you may be part of the problem. Opinions without facts are like useless, everybody has one. We live and work in the Las Vegas community, so let us try to make it better! Notice, I too did not post any facts today. We are all hypocritical, but we should try to keep a lid on it.
Thanks, ghostcommander, for that fascinating glimpse into absolutely nothing.
The private DMV argument is a sham. We offer similar services here. Need to renew your plates? Stop at a smog place, they can renew your registration and collect the fees for you. Or, you can CHOOSE to wait at the DMV.
Need to register a new vehicle? The car lot you're buying from can do it for you. Or, you can CHOOSE to wait at the DMV.
You can also contract out someone to wait at the DMV for you. There are plenty of "line jumper" private businesses/individuals that will gladly take your cash and wait in line for you.
The only thing you MUST be at the DMV for in this state is for driver's licenses/identification. If you look at Oklahoma's "Tag Offices", it's nearly identical.
Imagine the type of corruption and identity theft that could happen if private companies were allowed to verify identification.
gmag39. No I wish the worthless dregs would quit. Ninety per-cent of the county employees could be abolished and I and many others would not miss them. Start with the social workers.
Money would buy me happiness if I did not have to pay government employees. I would have more money and I would not have worthless arrogant scumbags harassing me.
jlb101...
Dear Sir,
Please take your money and move to a deserted island where you can bury it in a hole. You can dig it up and make love to it every day, all day. And NO ONE can have a PENNY!
You sir, are the human equivilant of GOLLUM.
"My Precious!"
Politicians are busy with their campaigns for 2010.
Watch this promo for Harry Reid.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/early-l...
Yes GMAG, privatize. Most jobs that government does today can be done better by the private sector. There are two ways to do this. Let private sector companies bid to do the project. Or let private sector companies bid against the government agencies (government agencies only get funding if they win the bid).
I bet the private sector would do a better job, at a lower cost, with fewer employees.
Ghost, you really shouldn't be demanding others post facts. All you do is say fascism and point to meaningless charts on the deficit. Not once have you addressed my criticisms on that subject. In fact you ignore all criticism.
Edge,
Yes privatizing DMV offices is a good idea - like most government jobs. Oklahoma had a central government run office. That is where you went to get your license for the first time and take the test. After that you paid your taxes at a private office. The government fixed the prices that these offices could charge but the result was waiting lines that were never long. In the 3 years I lived there I never waited longer than 10 minutes to renew my license or pay my vehicle registration.
The private DVM offices had to keep customers happy, keep a smile on their own faces, and keep the lines moving if they wanted people to visit their store again.
Government faces no such incentives.
Patrick...
Couldn't disagree more.
It takes me 5 minutes to renew my registration online. Really, Patrick, is that the best you can do?
Here is the problem. Gubment employees that pay taxes to the Gubment for Gubment to support Gubment is a vicious circle that diminishes with each rotation.
This country needs to assure that there are more private sector jobs than Gubment jobs.
If this means privatizing a Gubment function, then by all means do it.
The county Gubment must have plenty of money, what with not awarding contracts to the lowest bidders and all.
Patrick has it right. If these departments had to competitively bid against other entities, the debate would be over.
gmag39-you are obviously one of the parasite class who needs the government to take care of you. I could survive on an island because I am intelligent and can take care of myself. You would starve because you are stupid and need otehers to take care of you. Liberalism is a mental disorder.
Government is a bunch of stupid people doing things that should not be done in the first place.
jlb101....
I am neither a parasite nor stupid. And, while this may be debatable, I don't have a mental disorder as such.
I do like to get your goat, because you are such a hate hate hater! And it ain't that tough, honestly. Isn't it hard to expend that much energy EVERY DAY hating people?
Now, on the survivalist issue; I am an avid outdoorsman. I do have some experience here...
Did you know you cannot bring your Butler or Personal Attendant?
Pat Gibbons:
The line at the Oklahoma DMV had only two
people in it.
They both had a total of two teeth.