Here’s the question that never gets asked: “When is enough, enough?” The corollary is “With constant wage and benefit increases when is high, high enough? At what point do you say ‘Enough!’?” I recently posted on how Illinois’s budget crisis is so bad that Powerball will no longer let Illinois participate. Much of the budget problem they are facing is due to underfunded pensions. Given that it IS Illinois/Chicago land, much of that is due to politicians having made expensive promises to union/govt workers that, wait for it….wait, that they could never pay off. And the courts have said, pay it anyways. Just like California where towns are having to cut services to citizens because they owe too much to govt retirees who are often making more, much more, than the taxpayers paying for it. It’s almost as if taxpayers exist only to pay for someone else’s wages.
Pravda on the Merrimack has the story in Concord (really, is the Monitor going soft on socialism??) where wages and pension costs are now eating into services that should be delivered (reformatted, emphasis mine):
The prediction was right. Over the course of the day, the page would issue two more warnings that the city’s three ambulances were simultaneously occupied. These familiar posts receive a reliable response: commenters electronically rolling their eyes at the city’s decision not to add an additional ambulance in the upcoming budget year.
But their suggestions that the city council has been stingy on public safety aren’t backed up by the numbers. The budgets of Concord’s police and fire departments have increased by more than $7 million combined – or 37 percent – since 2010. That expense has been driven almost entirely by salaries and benefits, which on average over that time increased more than $800,000 a year, crowding out new requests for things like ambulances and K-9 units. After salaries and benefits are paid, the amount left over for each department – less than 6 percent of the bottom line – will be smaller next year than it was eight years ago.
