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Tired1969
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Posted: Mon Jul 6th, 2009 01:14 pm |
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NoDummy wrote: Two Cents: I think you may have misunderstood the 5 day trick. Here's the deal .. the entire Department (not Divisions, not Sections) must submit a plan for the use of the 5 days to the Budget Director for approval. If the 5 days cannot be taken by every employee of the Department without incurring overtime costs, NOBODY gets the 5 days. NOBODY includes the administrative staff. If you can't take the 5 days, you do NOT get paid at overtime rates, you simply LOSE the 5 days. This was NOT a GIFT. In addition, everyone on this forum seems to have overlooked the new Short Term Disability cut that was made. In the past, the Short Term Disability program managed by the Hartford (and made mandatory for every employee hired after a certain date) allowed the employee to use "STD" if their illness exceeded 20 days up to 183 days (or 6 months) at which time they could be terminated. NOW an employee has to be out for 60 days (2 months) and they can be terminated after 90 days (3 months). How kind of our "generous assembly".
In essence, State employees took the following hits: 2.5% pay cut, doubled out of pocket expense for health care, reduced disability benefits, and 5 days that can never be taken.
Here's the math:
BEFORE AFTER
Annual Salary 40,000 39,000
Health Care 1,820 3,640
TOTAL 38,180 35,360
35,360 divided by 38,180 = 92% or an 8% reduction which does NOT include the reduced short term disability or the 5 day "gift". Shame on our legislators for thinking state employees are stupid.
NoDummy got it exactly correct. Looks like Markell get the original 8% he was after. I do not think there are any state agencies that will actually be able to take advantage of the five days. So it was just another fairy tale that the encumbant Democrats asked us to believe. I don't think they are fooling anyone but we'll see when it comes time to re-elect.
The administration needs to work with state agencies so that the five days can be provided by division and not agency. By agency would be impossible but I think the Governor knew that when he said it and since he never wanted it in the first place, now he has his wish.
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bewildered-O-4-Shore
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Posted: Mon Jul 6th, 2009 11:30 am |
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First of all I was not born or raised in Delaware, but I will have to say for such a small state, it has some large problems. I have lived here just over 3 years now, and here is what I have noticed.... sideways, dishonest politics are alive and well in the fine state of Delaware. To hear a future governor stand up and flat out lie with the best of them was unacceptable at best. And now the legislators are trying to turn 8 into 2.5, shouldn't they be required to have some math skills, or do they think the "dumbing" of America is complete? Then not taking a cut themselves, wow...oh no, can't have that, they might not be able to keep the good stuff in the scotch cabinet anymore, while we struggle to eat and keep the lights on. Shame on all of you and your personal interests. Your supposed to be working for us, incase you forgot.
"NoDummy" appears to be a good replacement for one of you shady clowns.
Put the burden on these out of state people that line up bumper to bumper for
60 miles to get to the beach. Raise the tolls, and raise the price to get into Delaware's state parks. And here will be a cash machine... ticket these 95mph idiots
to the extreme, ya know, the shoulder to shoulder car full of kids in daddy's car, with beer bottles flying out the windows. they could help fill the till back up with a new "double the fine" program for out of staters. But I guess that would make sense and save a few lives.
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Mon Jul 6th, 2009 12:08 am |
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| The more that comes out about how the employees are treated with that 5 day extra vacation and some of the other things, the more I understand why one of the Republican legislators I talked with said what was being proposed was a bad thing for people and we needed to look at taking out other expenses. At the time I thought he was being soft on the main cost of government, but the details on how this all works makes it seem he had his head on right after all. Last edited on Mon Jul 6th, 2009 12:09 am by Hartlyboy
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NoDummy
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Posted: Sun Jul 5th, 2009 10:06 pm |
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Taxpayertoo: That would be great, if the agencies that typically have the overtime were fully staffed. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Those who retire or leave state employment will not be replaced. Most of those who have chosen those paths were not the high paid administrators; they are the individuals on the lower end of the pay scale who actually work.
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taxpayertoo
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Posted: Sun Jul 5th, 2009 09:50 pm |
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| perhaps now they have an incentive to cut overtime expenses and really save money. There have also been changes to overtime calculations - 37.5 hour employees will not receive time and a half compensation until they actually work more than 40 hours. Sick leave and annual leave will not count as time worked.
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NoDummy
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Posted: Sun Jul 5th, 2009 12:25 pm |
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Two Cents: I think you may have misunderstood the 5 day trick. Here's the deal .. the entire Department (not Divisions, not Sections) must submit a plan for the use of the 5 days to the Budget Director for approval. If the 5 days cannot be taken by every employee of the Department without incurring overtime costs, NOBODY gets the 5 days. NOBODY includes the administrative staff. If you can't take the 5 days, you do NOT get paid at overtime rates, you simply LOSE the 5 days. This was NOT a GIFT. In addition, everyone on this forum seems to have overlooked the new Short Term Disability cut that was made. In the past, the Short Term Disability program managed by the Hartford (and made mandatory for every employee hired after a certain date) allowed the employee to use "STD" if their illness exceeded 20 days up to 183 days (or 6 months) at which time they could be terminated. NOW an employee has to be out for 60 days (2 months) and they can be terminated after 90 days (3 months). How kind of our "generous assembly".
In essence, State employees took the following hits: 2.5% pay cut, doubled out of pocket expense for health care, reduced disability benefits, and 5 days that can never be taken.
Here's the math:
BEFORE AFTER
Annual Salary 40,000 39,000
Health Care 1,820 3,640
TOTAL 38,180 35,360
35,360 divided by 38,180 = 92% or an 8% reduction which does NOT include the reduced short term disability or the 5 day "gift". Shame on our legislators for thinking state employees are stupid.
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Brainiac
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Posted: Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 02:30 pm |
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Poltergeist - Excellent point !! This is exactly what I was trying to say in my previous post. LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER BUT ... I would love the local media to spend some time following up on the percentage of State Employees actually able to take advantage of the 5 days. I would also like to see where in the legislation it is written that we go back to normal pay scales and what mechanism is needed to kick that in.
All I can say is remember the Democratic encumbents when it is time to re-elect !!
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Poltergeist
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Posted: Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 12:23 pm |
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| Understand that 5 more paid vacation days is being left up to each agency. In a 24 hour operation, like DOC, DHSS, employees will NEVER see the 5 vacation days. In many of these agencies over time runs like water. The Gov states that, overtime cannot be paid so that a employee can use these vacation days. Giving up 5 more vacation days looks good on paper but again the only state employees who might get to use them will be the administrative, Monday-Friday, 9-5 people. There is a good chance that your average Joe on shift work will never see these days, and since they cant be carried over for next year, they will just lose these days, that they never really had in the first place....
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Fred
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 10:49 pm |
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rv-chas polk rd wrote: Fred wrote: . . . I'm not in quite the same boat, but my employer, for the first time in 15 years did NOT offer an annual pay raise. There was also a hiring freeze that increased the workload, but most certainly prefer that to layoffs. One can argue whether or not it is better to layoff state workers than to decrease their pay; I suspect most state workers who think they are indespensible prefer to cut the "others", but I also suspect most objective people would find the pay cuts preferable to layoffs.
I think you need to remember that state employees have already been that route. For the past couple years state employees did not receive increases. What kind of increase did you get last year or the year before?
Well, working in the private sector, as PTG has pointed out, is different. As it turned out, I got the biggest raise of my life last year as part of a promotion, which makes the lack of a raise this year a bit easier to take.
Here is the deal...I don't want people to have furloughs, layoffs, or paycuts, but something has to give. Yeah, I get that all you state employees can point to other agencies and claim THEY are wasting money, but do you realize that there are those point at you?
So...I've heard there are quite a few state workers who are choosing to retire early, and some positions will be eliminated, AND there will be some wage cuts. I STILL think this is better management then simply reaching into a barrel to elminate the hundreds of jobs that would be required.
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dover-diva
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 08:13 pm |
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Playing the Game wrote: Lincoln was a Republican and Washington was a Whig. I am surprised at Columbus day though, after all Columbus was an undocumented alien on our soil.
PTG he was here ILLEGALLY!! Come 20 years from now Algore WILL be credited with the invention of the internet and MaDAM Peelosi will have discover America.
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 08:00 pm |
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| Lincoln was a Republican and Washington was a Whig. I am surprised at Columbus day though, after all Columbus was an undocumented alien on our soil.
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Nature Lover
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 07:22 pm |
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| Why did they take away Presidents day and not Martin Luther King day??? That is just Unbelievable!!! Last edited on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 07:46 pm by Nature Lover
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dover-diva
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 07:14 pm |
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So , just how was money "saved" by this smoke and mirror trick??
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Two Cents
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 06:11 pm |
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| Brainiac -- you have missed the point of getting five days off and if you afre not permitted to take them, you will be paid for those days at overtime rates. If you are able to take them off, you will have opportunities to interview for private sector jobs.
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Brainiac
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Posted: Wed Jul 1st, 2009 06:00 pm |
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The passed budget is unacceptable
The gift of five furlough days probably can't happen in most agencies so we're stuck with a 2.5 % cut
First the idea that this administration is touching State Employee pay scales with their filthy gubby money hungry hands is enough to make me sick. Second the "Gift" of five furlough days to make up for the 2.5 % cut probably won't be able to happen in the majority of agencies because of the phrasing they used.
We need to remember the names of those who are in office now so that when the next election comes up those names will be changed.
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Tue Jun 30th, 2009 12:22 pm |
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| At least with furlough days, we will not be forced to perform more work for less pay. It accomplishes the benefit to the State of the money they want to spend on drug addicts, do gooders and keeps the golf courses and marina operating.
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Mon Jun 29th, 2009 10:05 pm |
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I think it time for a FOIA request by the News Urinal to have an accounting of the rainy day fund for the past 20 years. I would have suggested the DSN but they can't spell FOIA.
slbay wrote:
I would just like to say I think it's time someone takes a look at the alleged "rainy day fund" and tells all the taxpayers how much rain we need before this state uses it? It's time to stop making the employees of this state take it on the chin for the mistakes our past and current administration have made! Taking these employees back in essence by ten years with their pay is only going to hurt the overall economic status of this state! Why is it that the people who are not contributing seem to be the only ones not hurt by these plans? I didn't see any social programs losing any income as a result of these cuts! I'm sick and tired of honest, hard-working people in the middle income range bearing the brunt of the cuts in today's society, enough already!!!
Last edited on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 10:06 pm by Playing the Game
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Mon Jun 29th, 2009 10:03 pm |
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| This is #3 without a raise, and we get the joy of 5 days without pay this time around. Fred is a great Liberal. He's all for the cause until it effects him directly.
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rv-chas polk rd
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Posted: Mon Jun 29th, 2009 08:55 pm |
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Fred wrote: . . . I'm not in quite the same boat, but my employer, for the first time in 15 years did NOT offer an annual pay raise. There was also a hiring freeze that increased the workload, but most certainly prefer that to layoffs. One can argue whether or not it is better to layoff state workers than to decrease their pay; I suspect most state workers who think they are indespensible prefer to cut the "others", but I also suspect most objective people would find the pay cuts preferable to layoffs.
I think you need to remember that state employees have already been that route. For the past couple years state employees did not receive increases. What kind of increase did you get last year or the year before?
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curiousindover
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Posted: Mon Jun 29th, 2009 06:46 pm |
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| Well, I'd like to know who this $80,000 person is, that does nothing, because I can guarantee he'll be outed and ousted.
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Mon Jun 29th, 2009 05:22 am |
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Playing the Game wrote: It is much like the Legislative slush fund that is sacred ground. I really hope we can get rid of these people in November of this year and November of next year and the year after and the year after that.
Politicians are not your friend unless you need something you are willing to pay them for.
You'll have a hard time getting rid of them since they kept their 15 million of 'get re-elected money'. Fix a few potholes , plant flowers for a civic associayion and the sheep will be bleating for more next election.
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Mon Jun 29th, 2009 02:15 am |
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It is much like the Legislative slush fund that is sacred ground. I really hope we can get rid of these people in November of this year and November of next year and the year after and the year after that.
Politicians are not your friend unless you need something you are willing to pay them for.
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Disgusted
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Posted: Sun Jun 28th, 2009 03:52 pm |
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Sad to state, but there are almost no public sector agencies where you don't have at least one person at staff level who an incoming Director must take as an employee and not see their sins and omissions. It's part of getting, and keeping, the job. Either they're forced upon the agency by the Cabinet Boss, the Chief Executive, a legislator, the political party, or someone close to one or more of those four.
Word does spread in the agency about the person. They're worked around by those who know how, and everyone learns to avoid saying too much in their sight and hearing range. They're moles, someone else's eyes and ears regarding the worker bee activities. You can't do much else about them, especially if it's found that they know a news reporter and are considered by law or the press to be a minority. Any problem they feel they have gets sensationalized, making them look as a victim.
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Poltergeist
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Posted: Sat Jun 27th, 2009 05:41 pm |
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Playing the Game wrote: rv-chas polk rd wrote: There are too many wrongs in the past 15+ years. Instances where one state department was forced to take a crony of the previous governor as an employee - one who draws $80,000+ and does NOTHING. He sits in the office and sleeps and yet Markell didn't want to hear about this example of a way to save money.
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Sat Jun 27th, 2009 05:01 pm |
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rv-chas polk rd wrote: There are too many wrongs in the past 15+ years. Instances where one state department was forced to take a crony of the previous governor as an employee - one who draws $80,000+ and does NOTHING. He sits in the office and sleeps and yet Markell didn't want to hear about this example of a way to save money.
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rv-chas polk rd
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Posted: Wed Jun 24th, 2009 03:58 pm |
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There are too many wrongs in the past 15+ years. Instances where one state department was forced to take a crony of the previous governor as an employee - one who draws $80,000+ and does NOTHING. He sits in the office and sleeps and yet Markell didn't want to hear about this example of a way to save money.
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Two Cents
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Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 11:02 am |
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| It's just far easier to gouge the taxpayers more deeply than it is to figure out and take a bit of political heat for fixing things the legislature has screwed up over the past 15 years.
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 04:29 am |
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| The taxpayers are going to feel it THIS time around. The wimps in Dover have no intention of cutting pay or expenses. They could save $100 million /year on construction costs by simply doing away with 'prevailing wage' which benefits only a special interest group of construction unions but it's much easier to huff an puff and raise taxes again. If any of them survive the next election, look in the mirror next time you want to know who is responsible for this mess.
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WWJD
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Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 03:23 am |
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Playing the Game wrote: The taxpayers willl feel it next time around, beccause the pay cut is a band aid and what is going to cover the cost overruns next year and the year after.
Someone needs a set of balls in the administration to stand up and cut the size of government now.
- Start with Administrative salaries in Education,
- Cut DelDOT engineering.
- Privatize Parks & Recreation (Golf Courses, Marina's, Water Park).
- Move on to DSP and put more of them on the road and fewer in the office.
- Consolidate the prisons.
- Limit welfare to 2 years of eligibility.
- Eliminate all leased State offices and move them to unoccupied state owned buildings.
- Consolidate the Employee Training and Education staff into one Statewide program.
That's a good start and much of it can be put into place immediately.
There are some decent ideas here, although the blind notion that the private world is perfect is clearly mistaken (Finances, Automakers, Insurance Companies, etc.). I am curious about the disdain for DelDOT Engineering. Most people seem to believe DelDOT spends too much on consulting. Now you want to get rid of the in-house engineers, obviously resulting in spending more on consultants. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Also, welfare should be limited to 1 year, accompanied by some sort of educational component, and then never offered to the same person again.
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 01:06 am |
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| There is no limit and it has become generational.
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Poltergeist
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Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 01:06 am |
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Playing the Game wrote:
The taxpayers willl feel it next time around, beccause the pay cut is a band aid and what is going to cover the cost overruns next year and the year after.
Someone needs a set of balls in the administration to stand up and cut the size of government now.
- Start with Administrative salaries in Education,
- Cut DelDOT engineering.
- Privatize Parks & Recreation (Golf Courses, Marina's, Water Park).
- Move on to DSP and put more of them on the road and fewer in the office.
- Consolidate the prisons.
- Limit welfare to 2 years of eligibility.
- Eliminate all leased State offices and move them to unoccupied state owned buildings.
- Consolidate the Employee Training and Education staff into one Statewide program.
That's a good start and much of it can be put into place immediately.
Here are few more things:
Eliminate The Department of Education.
Drawback legislative salaries to less than $10,000 per anum.
Privatize the State Hospital.
Consolidate schools into 3 county-wide districts.
Review and consolidate all KIDS department services (What does DGS contractual services provide that cannot be provided in house or vice versa?)
Make the hiring freeze real...DO NOT HIRE any new staff regardless of the postion.
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Two Cents
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Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 10:50 pm |
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| PTG -- you are right, but probably didn't go far enough. I realize you stipulated your ideas to be a beeginning point that could be immediately implemented. Let me ask -- how long can one remain on welfare right now, and how many have been on it for more than 2 years?
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Playing the Game
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Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 10:43 pm |
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The taxpayers willl feel it next time around, beccause the pay cut is a band aid and what is going to cover the cost overruns next year and the year after.
Someone needs a set of balls in the administration to stand up and cut the size of government now.
- Start with Administrative salaries in Education,
- Cut DelDOT engineering.
- Privatize Parks & Recreation (Golf Courses, Marina's, Water Park).
- Move on to DSP and put more of them on the road and fewer in the office.
- Consolidate the prisons.
- Limit welfare to 2 years of eligibility.
- Eliminate all leased State offices and move them to unoccupied state owned buildings.
- Consolidate the Employee Training and Education staff into one Statewide program.
That's a good start and much of it can be put into place immediately.
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Tired1969
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Posted: Tue Jun 9th, 2009 01:03 pm |
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BOTTOM LINE
JFC ARE YOU LISTENING?? No raises for three years in a row, and then a suggestion that the budget has to be balanced yet again on the state employee's backs by taking a cut in pay whether its 8% or 1% is just incredible. I just hope the anger, the frustration, the fear, and the rage that the state employees feel, transfer to the rest of the tax payers of Delaware, and that these feeling are sustained throughout Markells administration and that they rise up to greet him everyday for the rest of his term/s.
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Two Cents
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Posted: Mon Jun 8th, 2009 04:22 pm |
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| Empire builders, my friend! The greater the number of subordinate I have, the more important my position is and the greater the pay.
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rv-chas polk rd
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Posted: Mon Jun 8th, 2009 01:30 pm |
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Hartlyboy wrote:
Trying to figure out why the State is run like it is boils down to one basic thing. Politics with an eye toward party power instead of taxpayer benefit. How else can you explain why state employment went up by thousands over the 4 years while there was a 'hiring freeze' in place? Downsizing through attrition makes too much sense to ever have it implemented out of Dover. Any of us who worked in private industry know that was one of the least painfull ways to reduce costs and you found ways to eliminate work or do what had to be done more efficiently. It was always enlightening to see how many reports and tasks turned out to be useless in the larger scope of things.
Because that's what it does boil down to . . . "politics". The hiring freeze was . . . is . . . a joke. Check out the agencies where hiring still goes on!! If you have friends in the right places, you can still hire. We run state agencies with an eye to who you know and how we can make a place in our office for you versus whether or not that position is truly needed. Elected officials, department and agency heads run their agencies like their own little feudal kingdoms versus whether or not they need these extra positions and salaries. If it was their own money, I wonder if they'd have been hired?
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Fri Jun 5th, 2009 09:37 pm |
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Mutan wrote: One of the problems of retiring state employees is that many of them come back to the same job as a seasonal or contracted working. In essence they get paid twice for doing their old job. There should be a rule that states, with the exception of jobs vital to public safety, which must be reviewed by a panel, no state worker should be allowed back at their job for at least one year.
AMEN!
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Mutan
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Posted: Fri Jun 5th, 2009 08:06 pm |
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| One of the problems of retiring state employees is that many of them come back to the same job as a seasonal or contracted working. In essence they get paid twice for doing their old job. There should be a rule that states, with the exception of jobs vital to public safety, which must be reviewed by a panel, no state worker should be allowed back at their job for at least one year.
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 09:51 pm |
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| Kirk, the attrition idea along with other relatively painless approachs to cost reduction [such as prevailing wage elimination for construction work] certainly makes more sense to me , too. I couldn't believe a Dem Governor would lay out a pay cut proposal on the state workers versus doing some of the things that might be unpopular with some of the other voters [unions]. We all have our stories about ineffective agencies, etc., but the people who work there took the jobs in good faith and to have a large pay cut threat looming over them seems Draconian, at least.
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Kirk
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 07:30 pm |
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Hart: on this we agree. The hiring freeze was a freeze in name only. "Essential positions" were exempt from the freeze and I doubt anyone would describe their office as non-essential. It is human nature to want to believe that we are doing something of value with our time, otherwise the number and size of anti-depressants prescribed would be much higher than it already is. I am curious about the status of the proposal that would mandate that only 75% of attrition be replaced and 25% be work force reductions, and department heads would have to fight it out to see where the 25% comes from. This would reduce state payrolls by 50-60 positions a month (if I remember the argument correctly) and would help to reduce the long-term problems. This would be a great time to enforce this as many people are trying to figure out if they can retire now rather than having their pensions reduced to reflect their pay cuts. One cannot help but notice the increased level of stress/anxiety when getting in and around state offices.
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 07:06 pm |
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taxpayertoo wrote: What ever happened to reviewing state positions and eliminating ones that aren't necessary? I'm hearing that many state employees are deciding to retire before June 30th- many that had planned to stay on a while longer. Not filling the same number of positions overall will be a start in downsizing State govrnment. What is the current number of people retiring by June 30th?
Trying to figure out why the State is run like it is boils down to one basic thing. Politics with an eye toward party power instead of taxpayer benefit. How else can you explain why state employment went up by thousands over the 4 years while there was a 'hiring freeze' in place? Downsizing through attrition makes too much sense to ever have it implemented out of Dover. Any of us who worked in private industry know that was one of the least painfull ways to reduce costs and you found ways to eliminate work or do what had to be done more efficiently. It was always enlightening to see how many reports and tasks turned out to be useless in the larger scope of things.
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taxpayertoo
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 02:19 pm |
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| What ever happened to reviewing state positions and eliminating ones that aren't necessary? I'm hearing that many state employees are deciding to retire before June 30th- many that had planned to stay on a while longer. Not filling the same number of positions overall will be a start in downsizing State govrnment. What is the current number of people retiring by June 30th?
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 03:35 am |
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Brainiac wrote: No raises for three years in a row, and then a suggestion that the budget has to be balanced yet again on the state employee's backs by taking a cut in pay whether its 8% or 1% is just incredible. I just hope the anger, the frustration, the fear, and the rage that the state employees feel, transfer to the rest of the tax payers of Delaware, and that these feeling are sustained throughout Markells administration and that they rise up to greet him everyday for the rest of his term/s.
There is not a chance in Hades that the wusses in Dover will vote to cut the pay of state employees. The Republicans in the House have already given the Democrats cover by coming up with a plan that shows only tax increases and selling off assets to get by this 'crisis. The Dems will double up on the taxes and declare the problem solved and figure everyone will be too busy watching "Survivor" to realize they were just voted off the island. There will be 517 days of grattitude until the next election when 30,000 state employees will dutifully pull the Dem lever for their heroes. This has just been a scam by both parties to get taxes increased again so they don't have to really earn their paycheck and shrink the size of our bloated $8 billion a year government.
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dover-diva
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 02:23 am |
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Two Cents wrote: Well, you will have ample opportunity to express your feelings at the next elections for legislators before you get to vote Markell out of office. Remember this: The Governor only makes recommendations concerning the budget and how to construct it -- it is the legislature that ultimately votes to adopt whatever the budget contains.
The state is just like the US gov't . The president/Governor proposes, the congress/ legislators disposes.
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Two Cents
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 01:51 am |
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| Well, you will have ample opportunity to express your feelings at the next elections for legislators before you get to vote Markell out of office. Remember this: The Governor only makes recommendations concerning the budget and how to construct it -- it is the legislature that ultimately votes to adopt whatever the budget contains.
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Brainiac
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Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 09:12 pm |
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| No raises for three years in a row, and then a suggestion that the budget has to be balanced yet again on the state employee's backs by taking a cut in pay whether its 8% or 1% is just incredible. I just hope the anger, the frustration, the fear, and the rage that the state employees feel, transfer to the rest of the tax payers of Delaware, and that these feeling are sustained throughout Markells administration and that they rise up to greet him everyday for the rest of his term/s.
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Luvpug002
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Posted: Thu May 28th, 2009 02:44 am |
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Or cost more, depends on the job and who's doing it.
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What a Crock
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Posted: Sat May 23rd, 2009 01:55 am |
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| Make all of the salaried workers, hourly. If they have to punch a time clock for the hours that they put it that should clear up a lot of funds.
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Hartlyboy
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 05:42 am |
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| BC, the legislators are still working on alternatives but whatever they come up with will have little good for any of us, I'm afraid. In fact, the state workers might end up better off than the rest of us. The Republican plan published in the DSN a couple of days ago doesn't have any personnel cuts but is a compilation of new taxes and some reduced spending along with allowing us to skate a little closer to the edge on the required spend out of all income. Old folks who are retired will lose tax exemptions [I assume for school taxes] and income taxes will rise . We would sell some real estate assets [great time for that] and escheat some bottle taxes, etc., but there is no reference of layoffs or paycuts , just attrition that the current administration will forget about the first time the sun peeks out again. It shows they are trying but none of the plans really get into the long term solutions that require shrinking government significantly.
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I am not making this up !!!!!!
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Posted: Fri May 22nd, 2009 04:36 am |
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It's amazing what you can find on the internet. You might have seen this before, but I wonder if anything has changed in the past two years.
http://php.delawareonline.com/dpc/overtime.php
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