Johnston's Budget Looks Good — But Only on the Surface

To the Editor:

This past June 18th, I regarding the new budget that increased $1.2M, the equivalent of approximately 75 cents per $1,000 in property taxes or the equivalent of $150 in taxation for most homeowners.

However, our mayor said he wasn’t going to pass the increase on this year — an election year. The bad news is, he stated the pension fund is now considered critical and could go belly-up in six years; the combined pension contributions that come from the budgets for the Fire Dept. and Police Dept. alone is approximately $4.5 million; the equivalent of $3 per thousand; $600 per average homeowner.

At the meeting, he gave no insight regarding this dire economic forecast. As I highlighted some cost-saving alternatives and showed some absolutely outrageous provisions in the contract with the fire dept., the general consensus of the council and mayor was: "What you've got to do is get the General Assembly to follow through" and “You can't just yank those things out of the contracts."

Here are some of the highlights I presented; you tell me if we shouldn’t take the bull by the horns? Local 1950 demands there must be 21 firefighters on shift at all times, referred to as “Minimum Staffing." As a result of this clause, the combined overtime over the last 3 years was approximately $5.5 million. Also, if an employee works 15 minutes over shift they get an hour at overtime and if called back in an emergency and work only 15 minutes, they receive 4 hours at overtime. Next, longevity bonuses averaged $5,134, with some as high as $8,523, $8,111, and $6,813, for a total of $349,171. However, at present there are 16 employees that are ineligible, but when they become illegible it’s going to add approximately another $55,872 to the budget.

Next, you have 15 holidays, double holiday pay, 8 weeks vacations; $19,500 healthcare packages for only $2,340 a year, and Hazmat and EMT certification in which employees receive an additional $1,100 a year that should be a requirement. Other provisions include $1,800 clothing allowances in which they receive along with their 15 paid holidays in the first week of December, 20 sick days that can be accumulated to 200 in which if they accumulate a 160 upon retirement they receive 120 toward their severance packages and if they only take 6 sick days they receive 3 day bonuses at approximately $288 a day.

When you consider 3 personal days and the overtime involved it’s the equivalent of 7½ days at an average daily rate of $288 multiplied by approximately 88 employees for a total of approximately $192,000 referred to as “Personnel Services & Benefits” etcetera, etcetera. Also, we provide $75,000 life insurance policies that cost $417.00 in which they keep upon retirement for a total of $36,279. However, we also provide a $250,000 accidental death policy which should be the only policy.

Note: according to the OSHA, the 15 most dangerous jobs are commercial fisherman, logger men, aircraft pilots, farmers, coal miners, roofers, trash haulers, truck drivers, law enforcement, electrical power-line workers, construction laborers, cab drivers, grounds maintenance workers, athletic coaches and umpires and construction equipment operators; imagine, it’s more dangerous working in the Parks and Recreation Dept...

The above abuses that clearly show a total disregard for taxpayers permeate through all the contracts which is costing taxpayers unnecessary tens of millions of dollars annually, and yet the Democratic machine says nothing unless confronted with these truths.

At the meeting I highlighted the following: Consider developing a certified standby system that would cover for those out for various reasons, privatize the rescue expects and bring in private industry to analyze our demographics to see about privatizing the entire department. Also, we should change the shifts to 9:30 am to 7:30 pm and from 7:30 pm to 9:30 am to ease overtime going out the door for fender binders during morning and evening rush hours. The budget last year was $13,182,871 and this year its $13,664,666 and only approximately $1.1 million is for supplies and materials.

In closing, our only recourse is privatization wherever possible and only pay prevailing wages and benefits that reflect the private sector that could bring taxes down in the millions of dollars.

Our mayor once said: “We need to think outside the box,” however, when you consider the above demands and greed, it‘s time to follow through. If our town approves four-year terms for mayor and he gets re-elected, kiss the future goodbye because it's all coming to a head in which we need honest outspoken pro-taxpayer leadership.

Thank you,

Peter A. Filippi III