2  7

There are currently 205,000 housing units in the County so that works out to $1,050 per household per year.

Before the gold plated giveaways of the early 2000′s the County spent an average of $10.8 million per year on pensions.

Does your household have an extra $1,000/year to fund this extravagance?

Well, you’d better find it or move to a County that isn’t such a fiscal disaster.

6  3

Now that so many haven lost their temporary riches, they are coming after me because I still have a secure job and a secure retirement. I’ll never get rich working for the government as a lower paid line staff member, but I knew that going in 14 years ago and accepted the trade. I valued job security, retirement security, and health insurance for my family over the possibility of making wads of cash. All of this recent government employee bashing smacks of pension envy and little more. You lost yours so you want me to lose mine, too.

I also value my ability to make a difference in the lives of the people I serve – people who know and live in poverty in a way most of you can’t imagine. There is no private sector equivalent of what I do because there is no money to be made in what I do. A company cannot earn huge profits helping poor people find shelter, food, medicine, and protection from abuse. The next time you feel a rant about overpaid County workers coming on, ask yourself who you would call if you suspected your elderly neighbor of being abused or neglected, if a child shows up at your home or office with suspicious bruises, if you need help to get to your doctor’s office for your next round of chemo, and no one, not even your own family, will help you. Find a private company you can turn to who will help you with those problems when you have no money to pay for their services.

I have no problem examining the financial problems of the County and coming to an agreement that is fair to everyone including the taxpayers of Sonoma County (which includes me). But leave the juvenile name calling out of it. That helps no one.

9  3

5  7

Public employee caught posting nearly 5,000 posts to public chat boards WHILE ON THE JOB …

Your typical government employee.
——————–

http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2012/12/state-employee-posts-nearly-5000-online-comments-while-at-work.html

———————

Ever wonder why the Press Democrat never reports these type of incidents? Its because the PD dislikes exposing government criminals.”

There is a poster on these forums who claims to be a Sonoma County employer who also posts all day long. It has been pointed out to the PD but they ignore it and will not investigate.

8  6

Let’s see…6 years ago I was making double what I make now. The economic downturn caused by the idiots in Washington led me to a 100% loss in income, a drain on my savings for almost a year and taking a job with a commute that costs me $25/day in gas.

I have since found a job with a long commute (as mentioned), started two side businesses and cut living expenses significantly.

The sense of entitlement union members have, where they believe a wage increase is automatic rather than earned, is one of the problems with unions. Everyone gets a raise of they walk. That is ridiculous. Where is the incentive for strong workers to excel? To innovate?

Union members make absurd claims that they make less than they would in the private sector. They make claims that they “deserve” or “earned” the wages and benefits that they force us taxpayers to pay. The house of cards will collapse under the weight of excessive wages and benefits. Bankruptcy is looming in every city, state and at the Federal level.

18  9

Oh wait…these are the higher paying jobs with good benefits.

They should be thanking the taxpayers instead of demanding more.

19  8

Unions also the reason for higher taxes
X union member
cert welder, cert equipment operator
the last project i was on, was not allowed to weld, but my viewing of the welds doine by others, folks sad part is it passed inspection and the weld looked like popcorn
I would like to know why Local 3 will not hire locals, anybody notice the out-of-state plates for the dummy train project
does not Sonoma county have resident hiring laws, local hiring laws, affirmative action laws or is this just for San Francisco
I have never wittness a more prejudice and aggresive group of people in my life til i join the union, i’m not talking about color folks
unions have been voting and shooting the foot they march on and wonder why they are shrinking 12% annually
will never work for or support unions.

14  7

Public employee caught posting nearly 5,000 posts to public chat boards WHILE ON THE JOB …

Your typical government employee.
——————–

http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2012/12/state-employee-posts-nearly-5000-online-comments-while-at-work.html

———————

Ever wonder why the Press Democrat never reports these type of incidents? Its because the PD dislikes exposing government criminals.

14  6

No doubt there are many on this site who have the education and experience to replace the entire county workforce.

Better yet, contract out all of county government. Dump the pension system, eliminate health care and pay minimum wage to all, including management and the BOS.

I’d offer you a fantastic deal on contracting out. The first year would be incredibly cheap. Costs would go up the second year, and by the third year we’d have you by the balls. All profits to the investors, not the employees who are doing the work.

Just don’t demand anything but minimum wage services

Funny how we did not have these problems until 2007 or so, when the vulture economics and unregulated greed of the republican party had not yet kicked in.

9  14

13  14

6  10

The BOS wants SEIU, the lowest paid workers in the county, to take the brunt of the cost cuts while the managers get to keep their 3% COLA they got in 2008. SEIU employees did not get that COLA, but a 2% pension pickup of their pension costs instead that the BOS wants to now take back. Many families now have no health insurance for their kids because they can’t afford the premiums, yet these same workers help the public obtain health insurance. The real issue for the SEIU workers is the cost of insurance. That was #1 on the list. That was not addressed and county workers shouldn’t have to go on the government dole to cover their children with Medi-Cal because the BOS wants to keep their own high salaries and benefits.

People on this blog keep saying how overpaid the county workers are. They are clueless. Some county workers make as little as $9 an hour. Add the cost of health insurance to that, and you are making NOTHING.

Lastly, the BOS of supervisors are NOT ADDRESSING BUT ADDING MANAGERS TO the 1:5.73 manager to rank and file ratio. THEY ARE APROVING NEW MANAGEMENT POSITIONS. There are managers doing CLERICAL WORK. Oregon passed a law that manager:rank and file ratio would be 1:11. This state needs to pass the same law. Maybe some enterprising group can get a Proposition together to vote on next November and control this crazy obsession with putting high paid, high perk managers in everywhere.

Rank and file need fairness from the BOS. SEIU has been fighting the excessive costs incurred by the excessive numbers of managers in this county and have gotten nowhere. Lots of SEIU families are struggling just as those in the private sector are. The BOS made big mistakes in the past (their own salaries being a huge one not being addressed) and now want to take it out on the lowest paid workers and their families. The SEIU workers are the workhorses in the county and serve the public. They are the ones who meet and greet you when you need services.

10  6

The Bakers unions made demands beyond what the market could bare. They refused to
negotiate and now the Union members are holding ‘will work for food signs’. I wonder if
the bank’s that hold the home mortgages and auto loans have sympathy for the cause? I
wonder if the Union brass who was so encouraging of the strike and busting of attempts at
negotiation are right there with their brothers and sisters now? I would bet only in verbal
encouragement only on all counts.

What is the yet unspecified claim to superior knowledge that makes Sonoma County
employees elite over the taxpayer’s needs and the duty of the municipal government?
What is the viable claim to our great grandchildren’s debt? A virtual generation zero…for
what?

I believe it is only the claim to an illegal pension. A $ 1 Billion dollar+ scam that has
ruined our local business climate, stolen untold millions for the taxing families and left our
public infrastructure in a third world disgrace. This group of entitilists want to continue
receiving full pay and benefits after they retire, the Unions want a piece of everyone’s pie.
Both want our grandchildren to pay this debt. I refuse to support this.

Previously bankrupt Vallejo and Stockton are looking better every day while once proud
Sonoma County rapidly declines and becomes the highest debt ridded municipality in
California.
I suggest filing bankruptcy and letting the Judge decide how the budget will be set. I think
when the actual numbers are published this will be the only option for the Board.

I believe it is time for our County Board of Supervisors to act like the leaders that our
government needs right now. This is not a popularity contest as some would believe, this
is hard core leadership of a County that is bankrupt. My suggestion, issue a final ‘take it or
leave it’ then file for bankruptcy restructuring.

13  8

Still these county employees should be thankful for what they’ve got. They’re much better off than most of the rest of us.

13  4

7  6

31  25

“You can’t live in Sonoma County for six years without a cost-of-living adjustment,” Gill said.

27  17

Well it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that wasn’t going to happen and predictably, it didn’t. So now the Stupid-visors get to throw their hands up in the air and claim that there’s nothing they can do about pensions, payrolls, etc. What they really mean is that they are following the line they have been told to say by the unions. Pretend to do something, and yet do nothing.

Don’t upset the apple cart or rock the boat. And we can count on them doing just that. Nothing at all to address the situation. And pension obligatio
ns continue to climb to where they are going to become unsustainable. And then what happens?

What happens when there just isn’t enough money to cover the obligations they are getting us into? It’s already starting to happen folks. Look at the condition of the roads! How about public services, parks, street lighting? Going right into the toilet that’s marked as “Pension Obligations” And this group of Stupid-visors isn’t going to do anything about it.

I’m not against a fair living wage, or working requirements, but I want it fair across the spectrum. I’m not getting raises, I’m seeing my health care costs rise, and I contribute towards my retirement. Lets see the field leveled out.

But that would take courage on the part of the BOS, and that’s a quality that is sadly lacking. Nothing but a corral of sheep.

31  18

The lower paid (yet still over paid)workers are fed up with their higher paid (way over paid) managers.

It is class warfare at its finest! I think a lot of people would be happy to be one of the poor lower paid county employees. They should be thankful they have a job, with benefits, with retirement, etc.

34  20