The city and its unions are preparing a parcel tax increase on the June ballot using budget maneuvers and a union-funded "citizen-sponsored" campaign to get it passed with a simple majority vote.
Let’s call it what it is: fraud upon Oakland residents. There is no surplus, and no amount of fund shifting can honestly resolve that. The city, as the old maxim states, is enabling “Peter to rob Paul.” Who is Peter? The unions, whose members already are paid more than employees in comparable jobs in other large cities. Who is Paul? The Oakland homeowners. Once again union greed prevails. The City Council bows in cowardice to the unions, out of fear of losing support in the next election. (I’ve been a union member for 40 years. My comments are based upon concern for Oakland, and not anti-union bias.)
The whole city of Oakland is a scandal. I've started calling it Broakland. For the past couple of months I've watched a highly visible white toilet, complete with seat, sit in very plain view on 5th Ave near the Embarcadero Ave railroad tracks. Nearby, it is accompanied by growing piles of sundry trash. For a while, I think about calling Rebecca Kaplan, who was recently named Broakland's $150K/yr Queen of Trash Removal (wonder what her signing bonus was?). But then, I think, why waste your time? After all, this is Broakland, what do you expect?
"Bonuses"?????!!! Since when do govt employees get "bonuses"???? What for, exactly??? The whole thing about working for the government is job security, right? And hopefully recognition that you are serving the community. "Bonuses"???? You gotta be kidding, right?
Hi Robert - Thank you for your comment. You are correct that performance-based annual "bonuses" are relatively rare in the public sector. (As an editorial aside -- truly "performance-based" anything is relatively rare in the public sector).
The big compensation advantage that public unions commonly receive compared to their private-sector counterparts, are the public employee benefits including robust defined-benefit pensions and health/dental insurance. (Another editorial aside -- I'm not knocking those benefits at all -- I personally think everyone who works hard full-time their entire lives should have meaningful access to robust health and retirement benefits.)
In this case, the new city/union contracts awarded "signing" bonuses to employees, i.e., lump-sum cash payments disbursed upon approval of the new contracts, a practice which is not entirely uncommon.
But the novel twist here is in the timing and combination of the Oakland signing bonuses and triggered pay raises with the city's structural budget deficit, the city council's stated commitment to putting a tax measure on the ballot this June, the questionable declaration of a large budget surplus and a state "emergency fiscal necessity" at the same time, and the unions' funding a campaign to put just such a tax measure on the ballot and get it passed as a "citizen-sponsored" measure with a simple majority vote instead of the much higher two-thirds voter approval threshold required by state law for council-sponsored special taxes.
Even more upsetting is the number of people who are aware of this without it being explained. Thank you Oakland Report for shedding light on this issue. I see the very few comments here from the past 2 days which means, the word is not out. While I love Oakland, Brokeland, Ohloneland or whatever we want to call it, one thing we do not need is a new property tax to be mismanaged. I like how the video demonstrates "FOLLOW THE MONEY" it says it all. I wish there was a flow chart for who was responsible for what. Mayor/City Council/Assessor's Office/Public Works Operation Manager etc so we aren't blaming those who have their hands tied. Once the ballot is out, a FOLLOW THE MONEY should be written in plain english. Also, what is up with all of the people just signing petitions without understanding them so people get paid ? Ludicrous.
A Good Future Project for Oakland Report: How much revenue is the city losing since the PD abandoned the practice of citing traffic violations. In front of my residence, I see drivers routinely blow past the speed limit, run red lights and park illegally. The result? Nada, nothing, zero. Gotta be a huge revenue loss for the city of Broakland.
Let’s call it what it is: fraud upon Oakland residents. There is no surplus, and no amount of fund shifting can honestly resolve that. The city, as the old maxim states, is enabling “Peter to rob Paul.” Who is Peter? The unions, whose members already are paid more than employees in comparable jobs in other large cities. Who is Paul? The Oakland homeowners. Once again union greed prevails. The City Council bows in cowardice to the unions, out of fear of losing support in the next election. (I’ve been a union member for 40 years. My comments are based upon concern for Oakland, and not anti-union bias.)
The whole city of Oakland is a scandal. I've started calling it Broakland. For the past couple of months I've watched a highly visible white toilet, complete with seat, sit in very plain view on 5th Ave near the Embarcadero Ave railroad tracks. Nearby, it is accompanied by growing piles of sundry trash. For a while, I think about calling Rebecca Kaplan, who was recently named Broakland's $150K/yr Queen of Trash Removal (wonder what her signing bonus was?). But then, I think, why waste your time? After all, this is Broakland, what do you expect?
Broakland Resident
This is an amazing story, topped only by the still more amazing fact that the other “news” outlets around here are not reporting this.
"Bonuses"?????!!! Since when do govt employees get "bonuses"???? What for, exactly??? The whole thing about working for the government is job security, right? And hopefully recognition that you are serving the community. "Bonuses"???? You gotta be kidding, right?
Oakland Citizen
Hi Robert - Thank you for your comment. You are correct that performance-based annual "bonuses" are relatively rare in the public sector. (As an editorial aside -- truly "performance-based" anything is relatively rare in the public sector).
The big compensation advantage that public unions commonly receive compared to their private-sector counterparts, are the public employee benefits including robust defined-benefit pensions and health/dental insurance. (Another editorial aside -- I'm not knocking those benefits at all -- I personally think everyone who works hard full-time their entire lives should have meaningful access to robust health and retirement benefits.)
In this case, the new city/union contracts awarded "signing" bonuses to employees, i.e., lump-sum cash payments disbursed upon approval of the new contracts, a practice which is not entirely uncommon.
But the novel twist here is in the timing and combination of the Oakland signing bonuses and triggered pay raises with the city's structural budget deficit, the city council's stated commitment to putting a tax measure on the ballot this June, the questionable declaration of a large budget surplus and a state "emergency fiscal necessity" at the same time, and the unions' funding a campaign to put just such a tax measure on the ballot and get it passed as a "citizen-sponsored" measure with a simple majority vote instead of the much higher two-thirds voter approval threshold required by state law for council-sponsored special taxes.
Bonuses, plus pensions vastly in excess of anything enjoyed by the taxpayers paying for those pensions.
Even more upsetting is the number of people who are aware of this without it being explained. Thank you Oakland Report for shedding light on this issue. I see the very few comments here from the past 2 days which means, the word is not out. While I love Oakland, Brokeland, Ohloneland or whatever we want to call it, one thing we do not need is a new property tax to be mismanaged. I like how the video demonstrates "FOLLOW THE MONEY" it says it all. I wish there was a flow chart for who was responsible for what. Mayor/City Council/Assessor's Office/Public Works Operation Manager etc so we aren't blaming those who have their hands tied. Once the ballot is out, a FOLLOW THE MONEY should be written in plain english. Also, what is up with all of the people just signing petitions without understanding them so people get paid ? Ludicrous.
Where is our Mayor on this?
That’s my question. Can we ask her to weigh in ?
A Good Future Project for Oakland Report: How much revenue is the city losing since the PD abandoned the practice of citing traffic violations. In front of my residence, I see drivers routinely blow past the speed limit, run red lights and park illegally. The result? Nada, nothing, zero. Gotta be a huge revenue loss for the city of Broakland.
Who is narrating this?