Surfing the web this evening, I couldn't help but notice one of the new posts on the commons. It had a misspelling that caught my attention and the article really peaked my interest.
The biggest argument during the last contract negotiations was the fact that Sheboygan pays 100% of the health insurance for their Police officers. Funny that now they are looking at exactly the same way to REDUCE their budget that Oshkosh did last year with garbage. Only now they are taking it further by offering a early retirement to several employees in order to hire more for less AND looking at changing the health care to save up to $400,000 per year.
So, here we are. I stated plainly that we SHOULDN'T make comparisons to other communities because we don't know what their budget looks like. Now we are beginning to see.
I used to live in Sheboygan. Grew up there in fact. I have no desire to move back there. Perhaps a nice place to visit, just not to live.
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4 comments:
You're right on target Kent. It's all about healthcare costs and public sector unions. Something has to be done to control those run-away costs. Taxpayers simply aren't able to keep up with the strain of added property taxes to pay for this gold-plated coverage. Seems Sheboygan is now finding out what we knew along time ago!
More concern about Public Sector Union healthcare costs from one of our neighbors to the north...
County must live within its means
I was amazed to see the County Government can't live within their means. It seems there is a rising health care cost for the County Employees.
So now we are being asked to pay for our own rising health care costs, but to pay for the excellent health care plan we provide to the county employees.
Is there any way to determine the average premium cost for county employees. Also the elected officials are covered by the same health plan as part of their compensation package.
I see the title of salary watch for the city of Appleton, but nothing is listed for the County. Is this information available and could you post the salaries.
In addition all compensation packages in the private sector show the cost of benefits as total compensation. Why not include these costs as part of the compensation for both Appleton and the Counties?
Just a suggestion from somebody who not only pays for my rising health care costs but also pays for the elected officials. Each time the cost of benefits increase the elected officials get a pay raise since they do not pay an increase in premium.
I know some rank and file workers negotiate their benefit package through the union, but it is time to start really negotiating the total cost to the taxpayer.
Keep up the good work with FoxPolitics. Let's make them accountable.
Jim Flading, FoxPolitics reader
As was mentioned many times, administrators are not motivated to make reduction changes as any of those reductions would also affect their personal healthcare coverage.
This mess must end!
We can no longer afford to pay our public sector employees 3-4% wage increases, along with status quo healthcare benefits. The tax base simply can not afford the labor associated with those expenses.
Funny how you mention misspellings in the Sheboygan article, but then you mention something "peaked" your interest instead of "piqued" your interest, as it should have been. People who live in glass houses....
You are correct and I used the wrong verb in my post. I am not above making mistakes and I did not point out the specific mistake that caught my eye either.
It had nothing to do with the article itself though... it was the title of the blog post which has since been corrected.
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