All politics is Local Mayor Peyton!

The Jacksonville City Council recognizes the problem with the City budget but does not have the guts to take on the unions and Mayor John Peyton certainly does not either. They will need the encouragement and support of people like us to take a stand.

It will require a "fundamental change" in the compensation/pension for city employees including police and fire, moving from a defined benefit type structure to a defined contribution, where they contribute to the majority of their retirement over a longer tenure. It will also necessarily require some belt tightening in the area of fire stations and police substations that will put some services farther away.

God forbid that they would address ideas like sharing police cars between shifts, running errands in fire trucks and sending the fire truck to the ambulance call as suggestions for saving some money.

Concerned Tax Payers of Duval County has been attending these meetings and is attempting to take the lead on these issues. An alliance with them is a good place to start and a way to stay informed.

It is going to be a toughy. You are going up against the good guys. The guys that rescue you when your house is on fire, the guys that capture the bad guys. Everyone wants to take care of these guys to repay them for their service and the risk. It is going to be a battle over fundamentals and people are going to be hurt by the changes necessary to stabilize the City budget. I am not advocating that it’s their fault, but as a matter of magnitude, they have to be part of the solution.

It is however, something we have to do or our City will sink like US Steel, Eastern Airlines, Consolidated Freightways, Social Security and Medicare or so many other companies and programs that no longer generate enough income to support their salaries and retiree pension and medical costs.

There will come a tipping point where we will not be able to provide necessary services any longer as a result if we fail to address out of control budget and tax growth now.

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Comment by Valerie Sawyer on April 11, 2010 at 9:44am
Standard retirement even in private industries is 20-30 years of service. Social Security cannot be drawn until 62 (partial) and 67 (full). I will never agree with the City breaking contracts with the fire & police departments. For years, the City took money that was supposed to go to fund the fire & police pensions and put into other areas (like the Feds have done with Social Security money for years). Keep in mind that fire & police protection is what a City is SUPPOSED to provide for its citizens. There are an awful lot of other things that can be done away with long before we start threatening fire & police.

What you are advocating would be equivalent to the Feds saying that were going to stop funding the military because they need the money for something else. We would never stand for that. Why people think it's okay to go after our policemen & firefighters is just beyond me. Believe me, if you ever need one or the other, you will be convinced they are worth every penny and more.
Comment by Mary Ann Mobilian on April 10, 2010 at 4:29pm
Jeff,
Very interesting points, I would love to hear some thoughts on the teachers unions as well!
Mary Ann
Comment by Kevin Walsh on April 6, 2010 at 4:48pm
Excellent post and you are correct that we cannot afford to pay retirement checks for relatively short career service. A private empoyee has to work form age 21 to 66 to retire. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's 42 years. Why is the government paying retirement after 20 years? It doesn't make sense to me.
Comment by Nelson Bruton on April 6, 2010 at 12:37pm
Good post Jeff, reality is not always what we want it to be, but it is reality nonetheless.

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