The reality of this is that the State Controller has sent several of these letters and nothing's really come of it. I mean, as a state we're in the territory of $150 billion in total debt and knowing that full well our legislature still budgeted for more than we could afford in the current fiscal year.
Not went over by accident, they actually passed a budget that was more than we could afford.
I hate to say it but at this point our financial situation boils down to this: There's no way we can meet our obligations, every part of our government refuses to take their heads out of the sand and the United States can't let the state of California fail. So the rest of you are going to end up bailing us out one way or the other.
Take a look at the list of San Francisco's top-paid employees. These numbers ignore benefits and pensions, which are fairly generous.
Chief of Police: $256,000
OK, tough job with major impacts on public welfare, must be hard to find capable candidates, I'll buy that.
Police Officer III $237,000
Police Officer II $230,000
PD Sarge. III $229,000
Lieutenant (Fire Dept) $225,000
(PD) Inspector III $223,000
Wait a second, guys
There are two major unions with members who do jobs which are quintessentially blue collar who are getting paid on the same scales that resulted in those. I love cops, don't get me wrong, but there is no way to justify $100k+ for a beat cop except through union capture of the budgeting process.
85% of Sacramento's budget is employee salaries.
In Oakland, out of a budget of about $415 million, police cost $212 million, fire $103 million, and debt service about $40 million. Want to know why they're in debt? Hint: look what they spent 75% of the money on. Those costs went wild in the last two California booms as the unions voted themselves gold-plated contracts, and they've successfully defended most of them even though the booms have busted.
I'm a nurse and I work for a hospital in Silicon Valley. Pretty much all the hospitals in Silicon Valley are union. The California Nurses Association has been very politically active, as have the state employees union.
And, it's pretty common for nurses to make 100-150k a year in this region. I know for a fact that there are a few nurses that work at Valley medical center in San Jose that make over $200k.
While astonishing, those nurses tend to work a lot of overtime. And, it's in the overtime that those people pick up the money. The nurses that are making over $200k are working 16 hour shifts, 6 days a week.
Before people start disparaging unions... The union rules here are really nice. For instance, this is one of the only jobs I've ever had, where I get a break on a regular basis. The union contract says that I get 1 hour and 15 minutes of break time every 12 hour shift I work. If get off work at 11:30pm, and I have to come back at 7am, I get double time. The unions actually force hospitals to treat their employees more humanely. Silicon Valley is one of the few places in the nation where there isn't a nursing shortage.
I know that Police work a lot of overtime, too. I'd be willing to bet that those officers are working 80-100 hours a week. I'm sure their union rules are similar to ours regarding scheduling, etc... And, while a cop making $100k sounds outrageous to people not living here in Silicon Valley. Have you looked at housing prices in San Francisco?
If you want your cops to live in San Francisco, you're going to have to give them a wage that lets them think about buying a house there. The median home price in San Fran id $550,000, which means a mortgage payment of about $4000 a month. So, factor that in to your outrage at public employee salaries.
You're right, housing is a problem. That is yet another lobby. If you look, Palo Alto might have a land shortage, but it does not have a volume shortage. Think of all the space in the air and underground that is not being used because of ridiculous agricultural zoning.
Also, it's true that unions help make sure that their members are treated more humanely. But it gets troublesome when they capture budgeting, like the previous poster said. Definitely an argument with many dimensions and, within those, sides to it.
But one thing's for sure: if the Cali government is going bankrupt, it has to either raise taxes or fire people.
In Chile, firemen work voluntarily, and with a very similar weather to North California, they are one of the best forces in the world. None of this 200k a year bullshit.
Who said anything about free? CA already has one of the highest tax rates in the nation, and yet here we are. Out of money. Again.
If your personal salary is in the top 2% of everyone in the US and you continually find yourself out of money, it's unlikely that reality is telling you that you should go to your boss and forcefully demand a raise. Instead, try spending less money on useless shit.
Not went over by accident, they actually passed a budget that was more than we could afford.
I hate to say it but at this point our financial situation boils down to this: There's no way we can meet our obligations, every part of our government refuses to take their heads out of the sand and the United States can't let the state of California fail. So the rest of you are going to end up bailing us out one way or the other.
Sorry.