Don't be surprised to see many more headlines like this one from the Canton Repository.
"Salaries boosted to lessen SB 5 impact"
Yep, despite the tools offered to local elected officials and others that utilize taxpayer dollars for containing their costs in tough times, some willingly ignore them. You really have to read this to believe it, and even then, you may have a hard time actually believing it.
"Salaries boosted to lessen SB 5 impact"
Yep, despite the tools offered to local elected officials and others that utilize taxpayer dollars for containing their costs in tough times, some willingly ignore them. You really have to read this to believe it, and even then, you may have a hard time actually believing it.
"The board of Stark State College voted this month to require its employees to pay 15 percent of health insurance premiums and ended the school's practice of covering the entire cost of employees' pension contributions and health insurance premiums. Both North Canton City Schools and the city of Canton chose recently to stop covering all or part of their employees' pension contributions, which equals 10 percent of their salaries.
At the same time, the college, school district and the city increased base salaries of their employees -- Stark State by 13 to 17 percent -- offsetting what the public bodies would save and the workers would lose from the new policies."
Several points jump out at one by reading this.
First, SB 5 is not the law of the land yet, pending the outcome of what promises to be a bloodbath Battle Royale at the ballot in November. Second, instead of being fiscally intelligent and managing ones costs in the best way possible, the Board simply shifted deck chairs and ended up with zilch for savings.
Is it any wonder how the costs of government at all levels keep shooting up? By the way, if that isn't bad enough, check out this section from the SAME article about a local school district,
"Weeks after SB5 was signed, the Board of Education for North Canton City Schools agreed to a contract with the roughly 275 teachers of the North Canton Education Association. Before, the district picked up part of the teachers' pension contribution or 3 percent of salary, while teachers paid 7 percent of salary. Under the deal, teachers will pay the full 10 percent, but the district will increase their pay 3 percent to offset the loss.
On June 9, the school board voted to end pension pickups of the full 10 percent for administrators and 4 percent for nonunion secretaries along with increasing their salaries to prevent a loss in take-home pay. The district does not do pension pickups for the district's 250 union classified employees.
With the district possibly losing 16 percent of its revenue, or $2.5 million next year, North Canton City Schools treasurer Todd Tolson said the offsets don't result in any additional costs to the district or the taxpayer, and no one is getting a real raise."
So, there is no additional cost to the district or taxpayer? Well, Hallelujah!
Oh, wait, wasn't dealing with the health care and pension pick-ups about SAVING money? That might be wise given that the North Canton School district is projecting around a $12 million deficit over the next five years (Click Here and scroll down to the schools from Stark County).
What ever happened to the notion that maybe taxpayers deserve a break during times when the private sector hemorrhaged jobs and has failed to pick them back up?
This all adds up to a very simple conclusion. By gutting the intent of SB 5, many of those in charge of taxpayer dollars are actually sticking it to the taxpayer.
At the same time, the college, school district and the city increased base salaries of their employees -- Stark State by 13 to 17 percent -- offsetting what the public bodies would save and the workers would lose from the new policies."
Several points jump out at one by reading this.
First, SB 5 is not the law of the land yet, pending the outcome of what promises to be a bloodbath Battle Royale at the ballot in November. Second, instead of being fiscally intelligent and managing ones costs in the best way possible, the Board simply shifted deck chairs and ended up with zilch for savings.
Is it any wonder how the costs of government at all levels keep shooting up? By the way, if that isn't bad enough, check out this section from the SAME article about a local school district,
"Weeks after SB5 was signed, the Board of Education for North Canton City Schools agreed to a contract with the roughly 275 teachers of the North Canton Education Association. Before, the district picked up part of the teachers' pension contribution or 3 percent of salary, while teachers paid 7 percent of salary. Under the deal, teachers will pay the full 10 percent, but the district will increase their pay 3 percent to offset the loss.
On June 9, the school board voted to end pension pickups of the full 10 percent for administrators and 4 percent for nonunion secretaries along with increasing their salaries to prevent a loss in take-home pay. The district does not do pension pickups for the district's 250 union classified employees.
With the district possibly losing 16 percent of its revenue, or $2.5 million next year, North Canton City Schools treasurer Todd Tolson said the offsets don't result in any additional costs to the district or the taxpayer, and no one is getting a real raise."
So, there is no additional cost to the district or taxpayer? Well, Hallelujah!
Oh, wait, wasn't dealing with the health care and pension pick-ups about SAVING money? That might be wise given that the North Canton School district is projecting around a $12 million deficit over the next five years (Click Here and scroll down to the schools from Stark County).
What ever happened to the notion that maybe taxpayers deserve a break during times when the private sector hemorrhaged jobs and has failed to pick them back up?
This all adds up to a very simple conclusion. By gutting the intent of SB 5, many of those in charge of taxpayer dollars are actually sticking it to the taxpayer.
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