You may be lucky enough to have a job that offers fringe benefits, whether it is a few paid vacation and sick days, retirement/pension, health insurance, dental insurance, etc.  Those benefits may add up to a nice total over the course of a year and a career.  Conversely, you may have one or more employers that offer you little or no fringe benefits due to a variety of factors.

The City of Ludington is primed to once again raise the levels of fringe benefits for their employees, and their city council has been asked to override state law in order to do so.   Back in 2011, before the state passed a reformative law in 2012 to help cities get control over entitlements and fringes given to city officials and employees, I noted that the City was poised to have fringe benefits equal 53% of the normal wages they pay out.  The next year it was up to 54-56%

By 2014, the law was in effect for three years and the city council voted to ignore the limitations for the third year, while the percentage went up to 56-58%.  Last year, these percentages were up in the range of 67%-71%, and of course, they voted to override the state reform. 

This should sicken anybody when they consider that the 'employer' in this case is you, if you are a taxpayer in Ludington.  So you or that person down the street from you who works at two part-time jobs with no benefits to pay the ever-increasing bills the city is sending them for their property, their sewer, their water, and other fees the city keeps creating to help put money in their pockets, is asking you to pay out benefits to city employees equal to over 70% of their already generous salaries.

Out in the real world of private businesses, the going rate of such benefits is typically in the range of 20% to 35% and trending smaller.  I know long-term federal workers who have below 30% rates for their fringe benefits. 

Yet, because our city leaders believe they are smarter than bureaucrats in Lansing, they offer about triple of that average and are trending higher, because there has yet to be a "no" vote in four years from any councilor in restraining the growth of entitlements our city officers receive.  Here are some examples of this coming years gluttony: 

The City Manager's office has the combined wages of John Shay and Jackie Steckel which will add up to $145,700, while their additional fringe benefits will amount to $104,100, which includes the $1200 cash payment each receives to reimburse their costs for health insurance which only select officials receive to compensate for their difficulty in covering their health care premiums.  Those poor souls receive 71% of their wages in fringes and $1500 more than they had forecast last year. 

The clerk's office with multiple employees has a fringe benefit ratio of 73% (97,600/133,500).  Not bad for paper pushers.  The treasurer's office is more complex, since they have part-timers who receive several but not all benefits; the ratio shoots all the way up to 79% of the full time worker's wages. 

The assessor's office disregarding the contracted building inspector, is at a modest, for Ludington, 70% (46,900/66,900). 

Just in case you were thinking only the white collars of the Ludington aristocracy were getting fringes, a look at the DPW shows them at an amazing 78% (85,000 + 8400/120,300).  A rate only topped by the effectively seasonal municipal marina manager at 84%, presuming his three-month-a- year employees do not receive benefits themselves.  What a job; $49,100 plus $41,200 in fringe benefits for a job that isn't even relevant over half of the year.

The rest of the list is nauseating as well, go ahead and check the percentages in the budget:

Garbage & Rubbish:  70%

Community Development:  70%

Parks & Recreation:  71%

Water Maintenance:  70%

Water Plant:  70%

Sewer Maintenance:  70%

WWTP:  70%

Motor Pool:  70%

Here's something to think about.  For every million dollars of wages the City of Ludington pays out, $700,000 plus is paid in fringes.  If the city paid out a generous 30% in fringe benefits instead of 70%, they would save $400,000 per million dollars of wages paid out.  Being that wages crest over $2 million in the Ludington budget, the amount saved by cutting back on fringe expenses could be around one million dollars-- in a budget of about $5.5 million, that is huge. 

But we need adults in the city council that have the ability to say "no" in order to gain control over their very well reimbursed public servants.  Let them know at the two city council meetings coming up, that they need to gain real control over our public employees' benefits packages.

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Another convenient time to do this kind of shenanigans and Shyster tricks, during the major Holiday time. While the COL complains constantly about not having enough MONEY all the time, this seems like a logical and common sense idea on how to cut back on expenses. But, they won't! Too spoiled and narcissist to change now!

Too spoiled and narcissist to care.

Why should they change now?  They've been benefitting greatly at taxpayer expense for so long now that it is automatic anymore. 

So much of the public at large is too ignorant to figure and too apathetic to care.

The tree you keep barking up is totally overshadowed by the rest of the forest. 

But wait, there's more!  Such a tree does not make any noise (is not heard) basically because nobody is listening. 

The raise of benefits to 70%+ was an automatic vote on Monday, made without official discussion, and voted up unanimously.  None of the regular local media commented on the raise at all. 

Your barking up a tree allegory mixed with the philosophical "if a tree falls in the forest and there's nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound", simply does not work.  If I am barking up a tree, at least I can hear myself barking, and thus I am making noise.  Your post also indicates that others hear my barking.  Officials regularly addressing my concerns show that even the deaf forest is perceiving this reality. 

That's amazing X. Great job of investigative journalism. This situation shows just what City officials think of the people who pay their salaries. No respect.

Thanks, Willy, and as always since the inception of the Ludington Torch, my rate of fringe benefits and yours, still remain unchanged at 0.00% even though we provide the necessary public service of overseeing that our public servants are doing the right thing.  Maybe someday we can double that.

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