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#13:
Commentary in the
NEWS
|
Total
Payroll -- 2007 |
100K Club |
All others
|
|
|
$134,000,000
|
$68,000,000
|
$66,000,000
|
$26,000,000
|
|
2740
Employees |
523
Employees |
2217
Employees |
180
Employees |
|
Ave. Pay
(AP) $48,540 |
AP
$130,000 |
AP $39,770
|
AP
$145,000 |
It is only money…who cares? The Council
approves all this largesse to pay over half the payroll to 20% of the
employees, an amount that does not include perks and
benefits like pensions and insurance; wellness center costs and self-insured
workers compensation. Meanwhile utility rates are raised to cover payroll, not
infrastructure maintenance.
In order to pay for the seismic retrofit
of the MS Building, the City Council directed staff to encumber (borrow
against) City buses and fire apparatus at an interest rate of 4.51% according
to city documents. Staff
report. Council vote. “That the Council hereby approves a
lease-purchase financing agreement with SunTrust Leasing Corporation in the
amount not to exceed $8,325,000, plus costs and interests, for the purpose of
financing the seismic upgrade of the Municipal Services Building…”
City spent almost
$400,000 on a useless and malfunctioning NextBus
System to track the location of the Beeline. At a one-time cost of less than
$200 per bus and $6.00 per month the City could have real time tracking of the
buses, fire apparatus, police vehicles, trash trucks and GWP equipment.
#12: Letter in the Glendale News-Press on 3-25-08 by Herbert Molano, Tujunga, “City needs a financial education”.
#11: Letter in the
Glendale News-Press on
#10:
It is curious to me that the city employees would be so keen to
see the salary schedules because they are unionized .
From what I have seen in union shops, the pay scales are generally readily
available to the members. Perhaps they are balkanized
in some way and the rank and file were seeking out a glimpse of the
administration/management pay schedules.
This brings up something else I have noticed about both city hall and the
school district.
It appears, to me, that city hall and GUSD are using non-profit entities to
accomplish their agendas without using unionized staff. This could be
good or bad depending on one's viewpoint. As an example, the
The point is that if something the city leaders wants to make happen is a
little "hairy around the edges", they simply form an outside entity
and outsource the work to that entity. Remember when there were questions
about the bookkeeping of the GTRA ?? The problem
is that it is systematic within
I wish the activist voices would call this out to the public. It is
wrong, even if the end result is what the public wants. The end does not
justify the means. There is little to no accountability. The
council members abuse the influence and exposure gained by doing these things.
Another thing that really irks me is city hall's renting out the parking
garages to private businesses. These spaces were financed and built with
public money. They are creating competition for private landlords who, it
is presumed, pay taxes on the revenues they earn in leasing their spaces to
businesses. The challenge to remain impartial and transparent is too big
to allow the city to operate in these kinds of businesses. GJH
#9: Today’s
GNP (
#8:
Publishing the $100K club was genius,
albeit reading it was most disheartening.
Keep after 'em and keep educating the people to the
truth.
#7: This
list was obtained by Mr. Barry Allen of Vanguard from City of
He said it was
not easy to get the list.
Seriously
I am shocked how
little some employees earn such as Police officers and a many others for
the quality of work they do. I know for a fact they can earn more in a
couple other cities, where I have acquaintances working.
and
On the other hand, I
am amazed how the Fire department is in total command by securing the great
salaries and benefits for its staff. I call this the great team work by
their union.
Having 90,000 plus
Armenians in a city of 206,000 population
The big question for
the concerned Armenians should be:
Can the Armenians
and other minorities secure a great job in the Fire department.
Mr. Bruce Philpott the retired former Fire Chief of City of
He is
willing to arrange an eye opening seminar, if you are willing to attend.
(Note
from Hal Weber: Bruce Philpott is the retired former Police Chief of the City of
#6: OMG! 11 Pages???
Where can I pick up an
application for one of those
jobs???
#5: As an LAPD officer for more than 20 years - with two
brothers on fire departments - all I can say after seeing that salary list
posted on your site is that every cop in
What a slap in the
face to your police chief and even the fire chief himself to be outpaid by a non-management fire captain.
So, the argument is
always made that these fire guys are working a lot of hours - big deal -
I'm sure the other city staffers appearing lower on the list work a
heck of a lot of extra hours too, they just don't happen to get paid for it.
#4: I am
still speechless after reading the $100 thousand club list on your site.
What is wrong with our city management paying these ridiculous overtime amounts
for people to sit, watch TV, shop, and sleep at fire stations, as Mr. Philpot
pointed out? How come the cops and utility workers don't get paid as good
as these firemen? They're the ones we see working every day. This
is silly. I don't care how much the fire chief tries to defend this, it's
an amazing waste of our money and there's nothing to show for it but a bunch of
firemen with big houses, new motor homes, large boats, fancy
vacation homes, fast cars, and fat bank accounts. How on earth can a
supervisor level fire captain make two hundred thousand dollars or anything
close to it when you have management people in other city divisions making far
less? There are not that many fires in
#3: No word other
than OUTRAGE came to mind when I read the top 100 paid employees for the city.
The fact that there are so many firemen at the very top of this list among
executive staff and administrators really fly in the face of logic and reason.
I could understand it if they were being paid overtime to fight fires, but
these people are being paid that overtime to eat, sleep, and watch television
while their co-workers go to the beach. And why on earth are Chief officers for a fire department being paid overtime and shift
differentials? Aren't they management or even administration? Just
how powerful is this fireman's union in
I don't get it. My brother is a fireman for
As you point out, Barry, a fire captain is the same as a
police or sheriff sergeant and I sure don't see many police people
anywhere near the top of this list. Fire battalion chiefs are the same as
police and sheriff's lieutenants, too, and look at the pay difference
there! I am told these are by far the highest paid chief
positions in the entire county and the only ones he knows of who get a huge
shift differential percentage when they have to work a 40 hour week. If a
What ever happened to the humble civil servant who gladly
worked for a modest wage, who took pride in their accomplishments, and who
reveled at being seen as local heroes? They are lost to greed.
These people don't care about us, only their wallets. Just look at a fire
station parking lot and tell me what you see. Mercedes, BMW, Lexus,
Infinity. And few, if any, even live anywhere close to the city they
serve! Do they even have to live in the same county?
Maybe this city needs to think about contracting to the
county and instilling some fiscal responsibility in our system. I don't
care what reason the fire chief may give for paying this many people this much
money, if it wasn't to actually fight a fire it was far too much!
Knowing that so many of Glendale's firemen are getting paid huge sums of
overtime to warm their overstuffed recliners, watch big screen televisions, and
sleep while just waiting for a bell to ring does NOT make me feel any safer!
Just walk into your local fire station after lunch and see where you find them.
I did one afternoon last year with my daughter. It was like her naptime
at day care. But I've now noticed they lock their doors after lunch to
keep us out. Isn't that quaint!
I am sickened and I am angered by this report. What's even more frustrating is I fear my brother, the devoted fireman himself, assures me there is nothing to be done. Once you give it up, you never get it back and that sadly includes the taxpayer’s money.
But, I have to say what I feel and want
to note I also was told that this fire department allows half of its
people to be off every day using a call-in system and they don't even have to
ask a supervisor if they can be gone. This place is amazing! Half
is a lot of firemen to hire back I am sure and all at overtime??? And to
make things even crazier if you look on line at the labor agreements for the
firemen and the fire managers they get 270 hours a year for vacation even if
they only work a regular 40 hour week. 270 hours??? The rest of the
city gets only 160 hours from what I can tell. No wonder the overtime is
crazy, the vacation leave is crazy. And I looked more into the shift pay
my brother told me about. The on line contract says the battalion chiefs
and deputy chiefs get a 13% bonus just for working a 40 hour week.
13% on top of those huge salaries and then they get overtime too? That is insane!
And do they even work a regular 40 hour week or one of the alternate work
schedules? Why are they given this money? Don't they have to work
where their chief tells them or do we have to bribe all of our civil servants
with bonus pay to work an honest day? More people need to read these
contracts!
#2: The
number of $100,000 plus salaries listed is shocking! No wonder the City claims
they can't afford a community pool, animal shelter or park maintenance! There's
a feeding frenzy in City Hall and the public is left with the crumbs. WOW
#1: How can a city
justify such greed?
I am very interested in pay equity for women, so my first
thought was that of outrage that only 7% of the 100K club was women. As a
resident and taxpayer, however, my rage focuses on the out-of-control spending
that is happening at city hall. When is this going to stop? When
are our elected officials going to stop pandering to these abusers? Accountability, accountability, accountability.
In reviewing the list there are several positions that earn
every penny they are paid, but so many are not. I hope you receive a lot
of letters about this and publish them so the city council members will see
that there is a groundswell of fury at their cavalier spending of our hard
earned money to people who spend far too much time doing something other than
running our fine city.