The article begins, "Tiny Maywood, CA laid off every single one of its city employees on Wednesday." It is an interesting article on two key points in context of the drive to incorporations in Miami-Dade. For nearly fifteen years, areas of unincorporated Miami-Dade have made a point of carving out political identities-- mostly in response to the size of Miami-Dade county government and the inability of county bureaucrats to be responsive to neighborhood scale needs. Whether the results of incorporation are good or bad for citizens and taxpayers (often, incorporations have been used by developers and insiders to lay claim to local zoning and permitting preferences, especially in rural and semi-rural areas like the Redland near the Everglades), what incorporations inevitably do is create fiefdoms for political insiders including unions representing the employees of the newly incorporated. In Maywood, this can be teased out: as local revenues came under stress from falling real estate markets, members of the police union began filing workers' compensation claims that were, for one reason or another, deemed so spurious by the insurance carrier that the city could no longer obtain or afford liability coverage.
In Florida budgets everywhere are under the same kinds of severe stress from collapsed housing markets. The boom in housing and construction was championed by lobbyists and speculators as "paying its own way". It didn't. The costs of government soared. Now that governments have to cut back employment, unions who may not be able to save member jobs may be turning a blind eye-- or even encouraging tacitly--some to fraudulently drop off into covered insurance claims. In Maywood, it is notable that most if not all employees were "outsourced" or shifted to employment within a larger governmental entity.
Government can become a shape shifter like humans who morph into animals scurrying through the woods in the HBO vampire series,"Trueblood", but it never goes away. I'm curious if insurance claim abuses within government and service unions are going on in Miami-Dade County as a way to keep members' income though jobs are "cut". Given that fraud is just a nephew or uncle or aunt away within Miami's economy and culture, it wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that what is good for Maywood's union members is also good for their Miami relatives. (click 'more' to read the Maywood story)
Maywood, California, lays off all employees
Tami Luhby, senior writer, On Thursday July 1, 2010, 8:00 am EDT
Tiny Maywood, Calif., laid off every single one of its city employees on Wednesday.
CNNMoney.com
But that doesn't mean the city is closing up shop. City Hall will still be open, as will Maywood's park and recreation center. Police will continue to patrol the streets.
They just won't be staffed by Maywood employees. The city can't have any staff because it can't get liability or worker's compensation insurance for them. Maywood's carrier, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, dropped it earlier this month in part because of several police-related claims.
Instead of declaring bankruptcy, Maywood officials decided to outsource all city functions. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will patrol the streets, while the neighboring city of Bell will cover other city functions, such as staffing City Hall.
Maywood already relies on contract workers and outsources many city services. The director of parks and recreation, for instance, is a contractor, and the city's lights, landscaping and street sweeping are handled by private companies. Los Angeles County maintains the library and fire department.
Some of Maywood's 96 employees -- which include 41 police officers -- will also continue as contract workers. Elected officials, such as the city council and the city clerk, will remain on the job in the 1.5-square-mile municipality, which has about 45,000 residents.
"Odds are residents will see the same faces as in years past, just under a different administrative process," said Magdalena Prado, the city's community relations director, who is a contract worker and is keeping her post.
Maywood is billing itself as the first American city to outsource all of its city services. In an odd twist, officials say it can provide even better services because the shift will help it save money and close a $450,000 shortfall in its $10 million general fund budget.
For instance, the contract with the sheriff's department costs about half of the more than $7 million spent annually to maintain the Maywood police department, Prado said. And patrols will be increased.
"Our community will continue to receive quality services," Mayor Ana Rosa Riso said in a statement. "Maywood's streets will continue to be swept, our summer park programs will continue to operate and our waste will be collected and hauled as scheduled."
Stressed cities
A growing number of cities are looking to contract out or share services regionally as the economic downturn takes its toll on municipal budgets.
"Everything is on the table," said Chris Hoene, research director at the National League of Cities. "The fiscal stress cities are feeling mean they are looking for alternative options to deliver services that cost less money."
Some 7 in 10 city officials said they are cutting personnel to balances their budgets, while another 68% are holding off on capital projects, according to a survey the league did in May. More than half of respondents say they will make to further slash city services next year if taxes or fees are not raised.
Not everyone is distressed by Maywood's unusual plan for providing city services. While Jesus Padilla feels sorry for the workers being affected, he thinks things might improve. He's made lots of calls to the county sheriff's department when he worked as a security guard and said officers always responded promptly.
"The council made the best decision it could," said Padilla, a local activist who has lived in Maywood for more than 30 years. "It's going to be good for the city and the citizens."
15 comments:
How about taking a new policy of NO UNIONS WITHIN GOVERNMENT.
They've just grown too big and are killing our budgets.
Incorporation of City's within Miami Dade is a good thing because the County Commission is just the worst case for any of us in Miami Dade.
The local politicians were all too happy to support big salaries and pensions for their union employees because the unions were so happy to support their campaigns. That cozy relationship is ultimately too expensive for the taxpayers. Some local governments have had financial reality smack them in the face much sooner than they thought possible. And now the unions are squealing. Good. They have fleeced the public treasury for too long and now the public is waking up to the corrupt deals. Its time to set things straight!
Thank you last anon! I could not have said it better!
I wonder what VNS would say about that?
Add that many of the union employees, MDPD and Fire Rescue, do not even live in the county they don’t have the tax burden imposed by the high benefits.
Repeal, that's a very good point not only dont they contribute to the county tax base but have take home cars to broward, the keys , naples, west palm and so on.
Apparently, Annette Taddeo doesn't agree with any of you. She just landed a few big Union endorsements and she's spreading the word far and wide - she even tweeted it.
Taddeo is real proud of her Union support.
Amazing what a little cash can buy these days, huh?
Well, Taddeo will need a lot more cash than she has to pursuade Dist. 8 voters she actually give a S***.
The union-bashing is a joke. Don't like unions? Don't join one - it's a right-to-wreck state after all. But it's also a state that gives workers the right to collectively bargain - Article I, Section 6, Florida Constitution. The unions lobby, protest, and participate in the political process, and they are probably better at it than your average person, so they've benefited. Then again, you could say the same of all sorts of contractors and cronies who have cost the taxpayers far more than a unionized teacher, police officer, firefighter or librarian ever would. If you don't like it, then you do the same - form your own lobby, show up at meetings, and do something that demonstrates a little more brain power than mindless union-bashing. I'd rather live in a state where workers have benefits, insurance, and a living wage than one in which Wal-Mart working conditions are considered the gold standard.
To the last anon, your Union arguments are very nice but they would carry a little more creadibility if the Union leadership actually believed in the Democratic process they claim to champion -- by giving EVERY CANDIDATE running for office a chance to present their respective cases to the whole Union body for their consideration.
Instead, all that these "good" Union bosses did was strike a deal with some political operative in exchange for some future support - at the expense of the taxpayer.
That is not Democracy - it's politics as usual! I am tired of this type of "politicking" - the voters are tired of this way of doing things and I will not stand for it and I WILL hit the streets and campaign against it!
Any consideration I may have had for Annette Taddeo is GONE! I wont even consider her if and when she runs for Congress again.
Go shopping someplace else!
Unions certainly participate in the political process, as is their right, especially at the local level. But just like [insert your favorite evil special interest group] that gets too much from its cozy relationship with politicians, it works against the public interest. Typically voters aren't engaged enough to track this, but when they get fired up - its payback time to the greedy unions and their lapdog politicians! Power to the people!
I say the City of Miami should begin the process of termination for city employees in the police and fire department. The city just can't pay these crazy saleries any more. So its up to these unions, do they save union members jobs or watch them get laid off. I bet before the first union member gets laid off the union will run back to the table wanting to adjust these crazy saleries. I still believe that the Fire and Police services should be contracted out to the county.
Are going to be a rash of cities opting to fold and become a part of UMSA? Interesting. I doubt it. There is much to be said about having control over your own destiny; especially your services. The market will eventually recover. Imposing tax increases or fees until things stabilize is better (in my opinion) than becoming a part of UMSA.
The issues in Maywood are not the same in Miami Dade County. Most of the new cities employees are in the Florida Retirement System which is solvent and has no unfunded obligations like older cities. The new cities have also contracted out their larger services like police and fire to the county. I don't know of any cities who have unions covering their general employees that were created in the past three decades.
Most of the government employees get the same raises and treatment as union members, so the anger towards union employees is basically all government employees. As for government employees, I'm sure you'll find competitive costs as private industry. I think the difference is that government employees have more job satisfaction resulting in their having more tenure and making more money than somebody who continually switches their place of employment.
I don't look at Unions any differently than special interests. With both there are the same pitfalls of moral hazard when it comes to dealing with governments. What is needed here is campaign finance reform so that we can get them all under control.
AMEN!! to the last anon.
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