When our county supervisors make about $40,000 a year and the city of Grass Valley pays its Parks & Rec manager $86,000 (population 12,000) something is wrong. No wonder the cities have no money!
The days of city fire and police departments being a separate entity should be over. Really. Hugh cost savings, and the same people will be wearing a different uniform. Better than cutting service in either of those areas. I know it's sweet to have your own police and fire, but it's costly.
Sell the property on Boulder Street that is the Nevada City Yard. That's creekfront property, worth a fortune. Store the tractors on less pricy land. Or don't sell it -- make it a park. Maybe a dog park?
You might want to go to the Board of Sups meeting on Tuesday. There will be an agenda item that asks for "requests for proposals" (RFP in government speak) for the county Animal Shelter to be privatized! That could be a whole new era for the shelter and it doesn't make sense to have law enforcement running it. Think about what someone like Cheryl Wicks can do for the shelter!
Bless you Dixie for bringing up the subject of local government staff wages (and benefits). Government already acts as employer of last resort, and there is no where in the private sector where these workers can sell their skill sets for equivalent compensation. They can only be paid with institutional monies that are taken by force from the private sector. I fear that soon we all will know the meaning of Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code. More here.
Posted by: George Rebane | June 07, 2009 at 01:06 PM