Today's Star-Ledger online has a tale that all taxpayers need to read.
It is about the recently reformed practice of allowing public employees to accumulate sick days to the point where they get a large payout at retirement. The example given in this article may make readers think reform came too late for some taxpayers.
Plaintalker wrote about this topic in 2008 in a post titled "The Big I.O.U."
There are still a few long-term public servants around here who have been piling up perks from various titles like a Dagwood sandwich of yore. Serve here, serve there, pretty soon it's enough to guarantee a tasty payout when a public career finally comes to an end. And even then, who knows, there might be a state commissioner-ship that could keep one's place at the public trough.
Curiously enough, even though this statement of what is owed to employees for unused sick and vacation days is required, the 2012 budget data sheet from Plainfield went to Trenton with a blank page for Compensated Absence Liability. To this observer of the municipal scene, it was an indicator of how half-baked the budget process has become without a strong fiscal team in City Hall.
At the last budget session, Councilman Cory Storch remarked on the answers the council is getting from presenters, saying this year he is receiving "the least amount of information in the eight years I have been on the City Council."
Now that the budget has been introduced and is in the governing body's hands for final decisions, Storch deplored having to make decisions on possible changes with the least amount of information.
Council President Adrian Mapp said that he, Storch and Councilman William Reid as the council's Finance Committee "have a job to do" on the budget. Storch said the council had asked for measurable objectives from each division and department, but said, "We haven't done that this year."
There are two more budget sessions, on May 1 and May 10, and Storch said he wants presenters at those sessions to give the data as requested.
"I'm expressing my frustration," Storch said, "and I'm very frustrated."
--Bernice
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The very people in charge of changing the "payouts" are the very ones protecting their interest in it.
ReplyDeleteThe NJ State Legislature... when you vote the same people in time and time again you get what you ask for " NO CHANGE ". j
And poor Councilman Storch is frustrated..try voting for people not party and you might get qualified candidates to run city government.
But then again, I forget, Plainfield is the lynchpin for Obama's 2012 election as well as all basic tenets of the Democratic Party.. this is the front line in the fight against the "EVIL" Republican Part - lol !!
You are right in part, Rob. People voted Jerry back in and that's putting the fox in charge of the hen house. All we get is lip service and nothing more. I guess that's why Sharon is the mess she is. Too bad for us.
ReplyDeleteBernice - what I asked the Mayor and her department heads for was not just measureable objectives. Her people have consistently fed the Council with a list of objectives every year. This is a meaningless exercise if they never report on progress towards objectives. That is what is lacking and so ineffective about this administration. There are notable exceptions such as Municipal Court.
ReplyDeleteCory Storch
City Councilman
Hi Ms. Paglia do you know who who's budget will be heard tonight.
ReplyDelete@11:18: Your comment is speculative and may be libelous, so I am not posting it.
ReplyDelete@11:18 and 1:44: if you have proof of anyone taking "kickbacks" on the Planning Board, you should take it to the Prosecutor's Office , not to a blog anonymously. They do take anonymous tips if you provide enough detail.
ReplyDelete