Aldermen and their staffs have plenty to be thankful for this holiday season!
Aldermen were not the only taxpayer-salaried City employees enjoying a pay raise, unrelated to job performance, in these tough times. We taxpayers fund an "assistant" and two "staff assistants" for each alderman, and they will be getting 5% pay raises next year. Not quite the 6.2% alderman helped themselves to, but not bad these days, not bad at all, and not too shabby for jobs with no job description! We're talking 150 taxpayer employees here, a staff larger than many City departments, (200 if you count the aldermen), with no accountability to the public.
The same "bad news budget" calls for increased taxes and fees, reduced City services, and hundreds of lay-offs. The budget was approved last week 49-1, with Alderman Joe Moore joining in on helping himself to a heaping serving. Somehow Moore failed to mention the pay raises for himself and his staff in his occasional "City Council Report."
Salary Allowance for Three Full-Time Salaried Employees Per AldermanYou can read the City budget yourself here (see page 51 of the budget document, page 57 of the PDF) or here (see page 46363 in the Proceedings, page 378 in the PDF).
- 2009: $8,824,200
- 2008: $8,403,600
So next time you see your friendly neighborhood aldermanic staff person, don't forget to congratulate them on their raise!
Maybe each alderman and each aldermanic staff person can invite four soon-to-be laid-off employees and their families over for Thanksgiving dinner.
35 comments:
I imagine those raises are given based on the staff's rapid and caring response to phone calls and inquiries from 49th ward residents.
Heh. That's kind of funny.
It's that wonderful time of year!
and what I find myself wondering is...
did ANY alderman plop Daley's 617-page budget on ANY of their assistants' desks,
"Here. Look this over and write up some recommendations."
I wonder where the staffs came down on the 2009 budget?
just wondering...
craig, the $8M is not for salaries. do you really think that there are 3 staffers splitting that much money? i assume that money is the alderman's discretionary funds, which are used to surface streets, install new street lights, build park field houses, and yes, if all goes well, to streetscaping. it is use it or lose it, so when things are not ready, it gets shuffled somewhere else.
and hugh, that is exactly why the progressive caucus was trying to hire a staffer.
In all fairness those employees haven't gotten a cost of living adjustment in almost 3 years.
Most city employees who aren't union get the union cost of living adjustments but AFSCME has been without a new contract for a while so no one has gotten a cost of living adjustment in a couple years.
So that 5% is basically 3 years worth of COLA adjustments.
In response to "been there" that $8M is for salaries. The Aldermanic menu that you mentioned is the money that is available to street resurfacing, street lights, cameras and about 100 other things is separate.
That fund is about $1.3M per ward. The problem is each year Daley includes more things into the menu eligible items that used to be basic services. Nearly anything an alderman requests these days has to come out of his or her menu money which means that money doesn't go as far as it used to 2 or 3 years ago.
Every year a big book comes out that lists every type of project available and has pictures for examples and costs for the work. It might say new streetlights with a certain style and then tell you minimum 2 blocks and it costs $100k per block....
This stuff isn't cheap :)
" ... the $8M is not for salaries."
please refrain from posting bullshit
did you read the budget? it says:
"Salary Allowance for Three Full-Time Salaried Employees Per Alderman"
"do you really think that there are 3 staffers splitting that much money?"
3 per alderman X 50 alderman = 150 staffers you idiot
"The Aldermanic menu ... is separate."
you are correct, sir
the aldermanic menu money is VERY separate
in fact, the aldermanic menu money is not even in the operating budget, the aldermanic menu money is in the capital budget
" ... that is exactly why the progressive caucus was trying to hire a staffer."
I was hoping some sad sack apologist for our pathetic aldermen would post about how unreasonable it is to think that any of those 150 slots on the taxpayer payroll would actually be qualified to assist an alderman with his most important job: budget oversight
thanks for being there
" ... that is exactly why the progressive caucus was trying to hire a staffer."
if wishes were fishes
maybe next budget cycle, huh?
" ... the alderman's discretionary funds ... it is use it or lose it ... "
more utter bullshit
do you recognize any responsibility for accuracy in your comments or do you just type in hopes of constructing an alternate reality?
little known fact: aldermanic menu money ROLLS OVER
unspent balances accumulate
you hear alderman talking about gunny-sacking for "two-year projects" and "three-year projects"
and BTW of course the balances are not shown in the capital budget
that must be their raise for their consistent email replies to me "I will forward this for the alderman's attention". These people are really sad - who gets a pay raise with a city budget in the toilet and then not even doing their jobs for the ward? Something really does need to be done!
for the streetscaping? Now, that is really funny!! OH right.... they have already done it on Morse as promised - I forgot.
6.2% the alderman (?) helped themselves to? Source! since they all did not help themselves to this. Oops, Hugh... Joe Moore "helping himself to a heaping serving" of the budget? So, there are dollars flowing into the 49th Ward? Source! You just complimented Joe and the system.
ask a friend to explain to you about links
hint: you click on them
Hugh menu money does not roll over. A two or three year project is just borrowing against the future menu money.
If the menu money rolled over some wards would be so flush with cash if the right alderman were to get into office you'd see some serious improvements.
The real story would be to focus on the wards where the $1.25 Million isn't being spent every year.
Now it is bullcrap what the Mayor does by including more and more services that were previously routine city services into menu specific requests. On one hand he's proud to say he hasn't touched the menu money but he depletes it by making aldermen spend from it for things they used to get otherwise.
The menu book is staggeringly large these days... now some of that is because all of the new street furniture and lighting type things that are new but much of it is the inclusion of things you never had to use menu money for in the past.
Not fully expending that money is a true shame and every alderman that fails to do so is doing their community a grave injustice.
My whole reason for posting in this thread however was to balance your title.. this isn't an aldermanic initiative to give their and only their employees a "raise". This is part of the citywide cost of living that is 2 plus years overdo. Again every employee under $60k will get this COLA in 2009.
This was in Daley's budget since October. Is it wise to do? That is a separate argument entirely I'm just providing some further information on the process.
"A two or three year project is just borrowing against the future menu money."
so you want to finesse this by calling it "borrowing forward"? same dif
"This was in Daley's budget since October."
so your point is, Daley gave you 2 weeks to review the budget, what's your beef?
if I were you I would rather change the subject and talk about the menu money too rather than defend these raises this year in this economy in the middle of all of Daley and the aldermen's doom & gloom rhetoric
this isn't an aldermanic initiative to give their and only their employees a "raise".
never said it was
it's not a raise it's a COLA!
dear readers, pls post if you got a COLA this year
For those who think Cola is a soft drink. Think again.
COLA = cost of living allowance
I guess they get cost of living increases and raises whether they are doing a good job, hitting budgets or following through on campaign promises. Quite the "job" if you can get it.
===Quite the "job" if you can get it.===
Joe earned his job by spending nearly a million bucks.
That and lying to the public and manipulating the fraudulent Chicago voting system.
well i see we have a new police commander and once again Joe says crime is down!
===well i see we have a new police commander and once again Joe says crime is down!===
ROTFL. The only way Joe got this information is from reading the blogs! Joe is such a phony.
After working 24 years for the same company, my position was outsourced to a firm from India. I was one of the lucky ones though. I was offered the same position in the the new firm.
The offer came with a 10% cut in pay and additional job responsibilities.
Along with my 24 years of seniority and the 10% cut in pay, I lost a pension plan and additional benefits.
I have no sympathy for any city employee, alderman or alderman's staff.
Based on my experience with the 49th ward aldermans staff, they are already compensated nicely, if not overpaid for the work they do.
The aldermans office has not sent a representative to the 2422 CAPS meetings for the last 6 or 7 months. They don't return telephone calls, they don't respond to emails, and they are not proactive in getting things done in my section of the ward.
Last week I called the aldermans office with a question regarding a city ordinance. The person answering the telephone told me she was new and didn't know the answer to my question. (If I recall correctly, this same person used that excuse about a year ago.) Then she said they were short staffed, and told me if I didn't hear back from them this week I should call them back to follow up. As of 11:30 a.m. Monday morning they have not called me back. Not very good customer service in my opinion.
Salary increases are earned because you work hard and do a good job. They are not handed out just because you show up.
"Hugh said...
this isn't an aldermanic initiative to give their and only their employees a "raise".
never said it was"
And yet your title is: "Aldermen award staffs 5% raise".
Sure that is technically accurate but it wouldn't play as well if you said that Aldermen rubber stamp Daley's decision to give 5% COLA to all non-union city employees making under $60k.
If anything that is a bigger story.
Your title implied this was an aldermanic initiative to give only their staff a raise. Any person would read it as such you made no mention of the real facts.
Also you can have people post if they got a COLA for the past 3 years because those city staffers have not.
If you're not getting 2 or 3 percent a year you aren't keeping up with inflation. And that goes for people flipping burgers and on up.
I'm not an apologist for any alderman's staff but what insight I have is that I did that job for years and I did it well.
Now that I'm on the outside looking in all I'm offering you is some insight into the situation.
Hugh: "A two or three year project is just borrowing against the future menu money."
so you want to finesse this by calling it "borrowing forward"? same dif"
Far from the same difference. Nothing rolls over, not all the work gets done in the same calendar year but you have to get it schedule and allocate the dollars or you lose them. Realistically you can't streetscape $4 Million worth of streets in one season anyway.
I read your blog and you've got some good insights into the process but you don't know everything there is to know, as you know it isn't an extremely transparent process.
Don't bite my head off if I offer you some insights from someone who was much closer to any of these things then you.
Imagine someone wrote a blog about what you used to do for a living and that person was only on the outside looking in... if you bothered to correct a couple of things or bring some diversity of opinion I'd hope he wouldn't bite your head off.
"My whole reason for posting in this thread however was to balance your title."
best way to balance my titles is with the title of your own blog posts on your own blog
" ... it isn't an extremely transparent process.... someone who was much closer to any of these things then you."
so post your name & credentials, I'm sure you will attract quite a following to your accumulated wisdom, otherwise you're just another anonymous apologist for the status quo, they're a dime a dozen here
you're not closer to my FOIA results
so say I'm an alderman and I "borrow forward" from next year and maybe the year after that for a pet project of mine and maybe the project deosn't get cranking for a couple of years, you want to spin it as "borrowing forward" go ahead, be my guest
Completely off topic, that's a great new pic at the top of the blog.
Is it real or photoshopped?
I do find it quite interesting that Joe forgot to mention his pay raise and those of his staff in his rah rah email about how he cares for others, always does the right thing, etc.
Did Joe et al do the turkey thing this year? Last year they put name tags on people identifying them as 'poor' in the mall parking lot. After ra ra bla bla those with the name tags got turkeys.
A birdie told me Joe's holiday party is the 15th - location not known.
Did anyone see Joe Moore showboating and grandstanding on TV last night?
Did anyone see Joe Moore promoting Joe Moore?
Did anyone notice he's packing on a few extra pounds?
Median incomes in U.S. have dropped 1% since 1999 and are deteriorating even more now, as more jobs are lost, and many of the nominally employed are suffering salary cuts and hour cuts.
We have lost nearly 2 Million jobs in the past year, and unemployment is projected to hit 9% before the end of 2009. And, thanks to the incredible malfeasance and mismanagement of pension funds and other pools of money in the past 10years, many people who saved diligently their entire lives in order to give themselves a secure retirement are seeing their pensions and retirment plans decimated to the point where they have to scare up a job at age 68 just to make ends meet.
Against such a background, it is impossible to justify pay hikes for public employees, especially a 5% wage hike. I'm glad I even have a job in this environment, and public employees should be VERY glad they have jobs with full health benefits, pensions, and paid vacation, for many employed in the private sector don't have these things.
The taxpayers are suffering. Why should we have to ante up more money for raises for overpaid public employees while our wealth is being decimated, we are losing jobs and income, our salaries are being rolled back, our benefits eliminated?
The population is aching with misery, which is deepening daily, and while we are hit to bail out every badly run major business in the country, including the ones who caused our problems.
Public employees should suffer along with the rest of us.
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