you give me the books to that city and i'll bet i can find plenty of cuts without firing police officers.
I bet if they just cut the union contractors and went with other, more affordablew ones, the city would save a few million a year.
The gravy train is running dry. If this idiot mayor can't find the right places to cut the budget, then the citizens should kick his worthless *** out of office.
when you have people that couldnt efficiently run a lemonade stand running a city, a things are going to be bad if there is ever a shortfall. E. St. Louis is one of the roughest areas of the country. Has been for decades. Satchel would blame whitey but it is actually corrupt government.
I like how when cities try and cut spending, they cut essential services first, police, fire and teachers and ignore the millions of dollars in other costs and programs that could be cut.
You totally missed the point, and this isn't unique to E. St. Louis, here's how it unfolds..... 1. City finds itself in a budget crisis. 2. City needs more $$ from tax payers, but said tax payers aren't anxious to part with their hard earned $$. 3. Announce a crisis and target the city services most prized by the tax payers (police and fire) in order to cause said tax payers to part with their hard earned $$ more willingly. ...all the while, entrenched city bureaucrats (union or otherwise) continue to draw their pay uninterrupted and can kick back and administer more programs creating the next budget crisis. Rinse and repeat.
Oh, I got it. I was just pointing out that they go after the union jobs first as those cuts provide the most bang for the buck, both fiscally and publicity-wise. But as you note, the citizens will be persuaded to pay more in taxes, and those over-funded jobs will be reinstated and everything will go back to the bureaucrats' version of "normal".
If they whack any union jobs they are low seniority. The real hogs keep their bloated salaries and ridiculous work rules and most importantly to them, their completely ridiculous pension benefits. All paid for by the people out here who are losing jobs and houses. Makes perfect sense.
