Geez… you can’t stop paying attention for a minute…
Last night the City of West Bend Common Council heard from the City Administrator about why the city should abandon merit pay and approve big pay increases for all city employees (police and fire not included since they are covered under union contracts. Here is the full presentation:
Compensation Presentation 7-19-21 – (002)
Here is the main thrust:
- Salary increase for 92% of positions
- Average salary adjustment of $4,519
- Salary general fund impact $283,553
- Overall salary impact $451,940
- New ranges established and range placements effective January 1, 2022
- Salary adjustments only provided for employees in good standing
- There are currently no employees on a performance improvement plan
- Salary adjustments implemented on January 1, 2022
- Performance reviews required for annual cost of living
merit increase
In the City of West Bend, there are apparently NO employees who are underperforming. They ALL deserve a fat raise. This is despite the fact that the same presentation laments that there has been extensive employee turnover (no detail provided) and that the current compensation is not competitive to attract talent. How can all of the employees be performing well if the compensation only allows the city to attract mediocre talent? If the taxpayers pay more for employees, shouldn’t they expect the city to upgrade the level of talent? If not, then what are the taxpayers paying for?
The proposal is to pay for the pay increases without raising taxes by raiding two TIDs. Remember that TIDs are set up as a mechanism to fund infrastructure improvements for economic development. This proposal would raid a couple of those TIDs that have “leftover” money to pay for salary increases. Of course, those TIDs will eventually come to an end and the pay increases will remain. The funding will have to come from the regular tax sources after that.
I warned last year that the City of West Bend has drifted strongly to the left. This is another step in that direction.
Gee, West Bend is just like Lake Woebegone.
“Well, that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”
We’ve had it so good for so long folks have come to believe there cannot be consequences for living beyond your means. They believe it in their personal, professional, and political lives. Fiscal irresponsibility is just another component of our national cultural rot.
“Fiscal irresponsibility is just another component of our national cultural rot.”
Amen, Merlin.
Merit pay is for competent workers, but Government money is quite often unlimited. So where else can mediocre people make an above mediocre living?
>Merit pay is for competent workers, but Government money is quite often unlimited. So where else can mediocre people make an above mediocre living?
Leroy has often claimed to be a guvnmint employee. No one that I know is more mediocre than he.
Tuerqas asks:” So where else can mediocre people make an above mediocre living?”
Private colleges, professional sports, CNN….
…”Government money is quite often unlimited “
Nonsense.
…”Government money is quite often unlimited “
Nonsense.
You are correct, I did not finish the statement:
Merit pay is for competent workers, but Government money is quite often unlimited in every Democrat and most Republican official’s mind.
My apologies.
Tuerqas, you are correct. When it comes to Federal spending, money is uimitied because you just print more money.
As far as state and local governments, it is almost unlimited. Just raise more taxes, apply for grants, borrow money, etc.
I wouldn’t disagree Mar you are probably more correct in practice, but the amended statement above is exactly what I meant to say, I just thought the last part instead of typing it, apparently.
“almost unlimited “ is also nonsense. WI has levy limits for municipalities, see Ch. 66 state statutes.
And Lying Le Roi is caught in another lie.
Read Chapter sec. 66.0602(4), about referendums, moron.
Lying Le Roi strikes again.
“the levy increase limit under sub. (2) if its governing body adopts a resolution to that effect and if the resolution is approved in a referendum”
Chapter sec. 66.0602(4),
Lying Le Roi thinks we are so stupid that we wouldn’t actually check out what the asshole says.
But no, after about a minute of checking, we found out Lying Le Roi is caught lying again.
Just another troll post by Lying Le Roi.
Come on Lying Le Roi, do you really think we are that stupid?
But yes, most of us think you are that stupid.
And Lying Le Roi, that doesn’t stop a local government from applying for grants, like the Safer grant, where cities and towns can hire more firefighters and I think police officers, but if course it comes with a catch. You hire them and when the grant runs out, you either hits them or you fire them.
And local governments can apply for other grants to fund just about anything they want. Look at Tommy Barrett’s mini choo choo downtown Milwaukee.
UW Stevens Point wants their diploma back. They cannot believe they graduated someone as stupid as you.
Glad to see you did some of your own research. However, raising taxes is far from “almost unlimited” here in WI, as you found out from reading the relevant portions of Ch. 66. Were you to move back to WI, run for public office on a town, city, county, village board, and get elected, you would find out how difficult it is to raise taxes. But you just keep spinning you tall tales, believing in the tooth fairy, and making false claims about me.
And we weren’t talking about grants, we we talking about raising taxes. Stay focused.
And yet Leroy, for all your quibbling over the semantics of T’s statement… the city of West Bend has had no problem giving across the board raises.
>And we weren’t talking about grants, we we talking about raising taxes. Stay focused.
Actually, if you could follow what the adults are saying… T was talking about money… not just taxes. I’m so sorry that bigger pictures are a struggle for your smooth brain.
And Le Roi has nothing again.
Once again, proved he is a liar, once again.
Once again, Le Roi tries to spin his way out of a first lie, only to look like a fool with his second lie.
Just like Senile Joe Biden. Just keep on lying.
Jason: “Actually, if you could follow what the adults are saying… T was talking about money… not just taxes. I’m so sorry that bigger pictures are a struggle for your smooth brain.”
Exactly. Government money intakes include hundreds of different types and sources of taxes, fees, grants, printing money, et al. To point out how one type of tax or small set of taxes is ‘limited’ doesn’t come close to proving that it is ‘so difficult to raise taxes’ much less just raise/take/confiscate some money through Government channels.
WB didn’t propose giving everyone in the WB Gov’t a raise by raising municipal taxes did they? They are apparently suggesting their raises are effectively infrastructure improvement now (to take it out of the TIDs) and won’t require increased local taxes for a year or two.
Giving yourselves a one-time bonus from ‘extra’ money marked for a different purpose is bad enough. Giving yourselves raises which next year must be marked down as increased expenses and taxes will need to be increased is pretty despicable, and that was the point of the post in my view. If a Government official wants money for himself or his district, he can often most easily get it simply by agreeing to give money for everyone else’s desire as well. The very deep well of Gov’t money certainly gets less deep as you move to smaller and smaller venues, it is certainly not ‘unlimited’ at the local level in Podunk, WI, but a determined Gov’t official can get himself a no merit raise if he works the system well enough. That happens in the private world too, unscrupulous people can manipulate and maneuver, but there are a lot less avenues of attack. The option to just drop merit pay altogether and take a raise from the new equipment fund will not be an option in the private workplace. That is why so many unscrupulous people end up in politics, I guess.