Employee compensation driving city budget increases
To the editor:
No more new taxes and fees for the residents of our city. Last year, spending for wages, salaries and benefits expenditures for the vast majority of all city employees, went up substantially more than the inflation rate. Do not be fooled into thinking the city was cutting back spending just because total spending went down from $376 million to $360 million. The major reason for that decrease was that we cut back temporarily on some major capital projects. We paid out about $20 million less for those projects which accounted for all of that decrease. In the meantime the wages, salaries and benefits expenditures for the vast majority of all city employees, went up substantially more than the inflation rate. Nothing has been done to rein in those excessive increases. How much more is being paid out? Let us run through some of the numbers, including percentages.
As stated, total expenditures in 2008 went down by about 4 percent due to the delay in some capital projects. But if we look at the wages, salaries and benefits paid out, we see the following: Executive pay and benefits up 10 percent from $2.1 million to $2.3 million; Financial Services pay and benefits up by 12 percent, from $7.4 million to $8.3 million; Law Enforcement up by 13 percent, from $28.8 million to $32.7 million; Fire Services up by 5 percent, from $21.8 million to $22.9 million; Water and Sewer pay and benefits were up a whopping 38 percent, from $7.8 million to $10.8 million; Roads and Streets up by 17 percent, from $7.5 million to $8.8 million and finally Parks and Recreation up by 9 percent, from $8.7 million to $9.5 million.
These were the major increases that I saw in the audited data sent to the state as required by law. All of these increases took place during a year when lots of people in our city were losing their jobs and their homes. Our city manager has stated that if the budget is to be cut, that services will suffer and he has repeatedly told the city council he cannot cut further. Let me suggest he start with his own salary and benefits of $182,000 per year. Let me also suggest that those council members who voted to extend his contract, re-examine the criteria they use to measure his performance. When are they going to get the message that raising new sources of taxes and fees only feeds this tax-and-spend administration which constantly finds ways to spend more? It is time for a change. Time to elect some new people to the council who will help council members Brandt and Deile control spending.
Sal Grosso
Cape Coral