Before it gets any better... it could certainly get worse...!
The Newshawk reports that the Commissioners reduce highway workers to 35 hours and eliminate one part time position. Lets take a deeper look at this.. Mark and Kevin sided together to let this happen and Kent was opposed! Is this the right "fat" to trim off the budget? It will essentially provide no viable relief to the budget( barely temporary at best). Patch a crack in a leaking dam with duct tape? There are several long term factors here that need to be brought up..
1st is that I do not think any commissioner has an idea of how much it costs to hire, fire, and lay off an employee. (maybe Kent knows the cost?) Time in service and training have a value and I truly do not think they know the real cost involved. So those with the attitude of "lets vote the incumbents out" - please take notice in this!! Because this is the exact scenario is why we face failure in our local government. One can stand up and do the right thing but the news fails to inform or just briefly mentions that persons objection or position. Maybe Kent is trying to tell us all something.
2nd Lets talk about "trimming the fat off the budget" It was wrong and an incompetant position to take the measure that they did. They have forgotten to remind the public that they, "the Commissioners"and "County Council" members get pay and medical insurance coverage. A few ditch meetings and Commissioner meetings justify the coverage? Lets talk about the county council too... They can wave off huge cost over runs on projects(with no discussion) but hold an indepth discussion about the purchase of toilet paper and vacuum cleaners.. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners may be interesting at the Kroft's this year?? because of Kevin's family working at the highway garage...
3rd- The Challenge and Solution for the Voters of Starke County.. If I were a county highway worker.. I would be looking for other employment and the county can lose the value, time in service, and experience. It is ok for them to get insurance benefits for just administrating county business. They all should give up those benefits/ perks because they failed all employees as leaders and have failed the taxpayers. Lets see which County officials step up to the plate and give their insurance coverage or their pay up. It also doesnt have to be just commissioners.. It can be the other elected officials too?? I also know that by law, they cannot give up being compensated, but, they can donate their compensation back...!!
VOTERS PLEASE GIVE YOUR THOUGHTS!!!
Watch out ROSELAND!! HERE COMES STARKE COUNTY
15 comments:
You are absolutely right! All Starke County Elected officials can sit on their pedistals and keep getting paid. They need to give up their pay too! They should all be ashamed of themselves and unable to show their faces in public. I cannot believe the method to any of their madness. I know the county highway workers have been labled as lazy but lets face the facts. Everyone says they work hard at their jobs but realistically everyone has a few of those lazy or easy days. Just remember when your sitting in a ditch because you slid off an unsalted or plowed road. What about if your wife, mother or daughter is put into that position.
I thought I remember that part time summer workers at the high way garage got paid unemployment through the winter? I agree with the last post... Others need to step up too on giving up their pay! Cuts should be made at the top and not the bottom
There can always be another way to trim fat without effecting peoples / employees lives. These part-time elected officials, who work regular full time jobs, don't need tax payer funded perks. I do a lot myself for the Knox community and I don't get tax payer perks. I work hard and yes, there has been time when I haven't slept because of what I do. I'm involved in politics but I don't consider myself a crook either.
So find a way to get the job done and get it done right.
There needs to be a better way than just laying people off. There should be a process that is a little more fair across the board instead of punishing one department. In a time like this, when times are tight, the perks need to go!!
Kevin dont care! He is on his way out.. Milo dont care cause he not up for eletion. They both have full time jobs so they could give up their money from being commissioners. Kent should put this into a motion, that he will give up his pay on the condition that the other two give theirs up. Throw em out there Kent and see if they like it
For the record, Kevin Kroft does not take the county's health insurance and neither does the county auditor. As a matter of fact, only about 50% of the county employees elect to take the health insurance.
for the record? Im guessing that the last anonymous comment must be a county employee? perhaps using a network on county time? Then there is the issue of violating the HIPPA law-http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacysummary.pdf
nice to see integrity at its best
Maybe Mitch can come and outsource or privatize some of those high paid county jobs?
The only way to do this is to vote out the trash since we can't just take it out. I agree with the post for the county workers to start looking for another job. They are about to lose their jobs or a definite cut in pay and most likely lose their insurance if they stay. WHY? Because the group in charge spent all the money - yep that 964,000 that is still missing as far as I am concerned. They took money that was for road improvement and stuck it in the general fund. Milo had the balls to say he thought the State just gave us a gift. WTF? I may have been born at nite , but not last nite. Take a good look at Milo, didn't he have some contracting company that went bankrupt, and now he is back in business making this county deals on what he can save us with. Maybe that's why he went under in the first place, poor business practice. What about the fabulous 5 who voted on pissing this money away, wasn't one of them an estok? Would it be out of line to think that maybe some of this so called lost cash possibly getting used to put people back in business, back in office with huge campaign signs and parties for their supporters. Maybe if this never happened, we could pay the county workers a living wage and we the tax paying public get our moneys worth from a better operating and performing local government. Drive safe this winter since we will be driving on snow covered streets
More incompetence!! Now we hear that out privately owned, for-profit hospital hasn't paid property taxes in over 11 years. All because our assessors and auditor screwed up again! That apparently is $77,000 for one year - that means 11 times $77,000 = $847,000!! Money the county never received and additional taxes YOU had to pay to make up the loss. Maybe we need to get rid of Center Township Assessor Priscilla (Estok) Upp, Auditor Michaelene Houston, and Assessor Rhonda Milner. WE NO LONGER CAN AFFORD THEM!! Does anybody in the County know how to do things right? Do we have watchdogs? Where are the Commissioners? Kevin is supposed to be a "friend of the taxpayers". What are the County council members doing? Maybe they ought to actually do a little work and not just showup at a meeting every once in awhile. Why do we elect and re-elect these same people? It is musical chairs! From one office to another. Now we also hear that County Attorney Bedrock isn't asking the hospital to pay everything back! Are the Commissioners telling him that? If WE don't pay our property taxes - even if we're broke - they'll sell our home at a tax sale to get the money. These people have screwed up before and have cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars. When will we ever learn? We have the power to do something about this. Tell them to resign. Vote them out. Never elect them again. Let's get somebody else in. They couldn't do any worse.
wow! Thats close to what they were short? The state board of accounts, the department of local government finance should be alerted to this! The last post is right! If they grant them a free pass on that tax money, that tells me that everyone in starke county can just come in and say they cant afford their taxes either.. I understand its the hospital. Its not anyones fault but their own as to how they run their for profit business. If you have insurance, you pay one price- usually higher if you dont have insurance you pay a differnt price for the same procedure. An investigation as to why taxes were not collected should be launched immediately.
HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you wish to have ANY sort of credibility in the political or public sector, please try using a dictionary and learn some basic grammatical functions.
Ok...let's do a brief lesson...I have time.
HEY...Anonymous...When using the words "you" and "are" to complete a sentence, many people like to make a contraction and combine the two words. This is problematic (this means problem), however, when certain people don't understand the basic use of apostrophes...you know, the ' thingies. At any rate...the phrase "Just remember when your..." is incorrect because of the lack of apostrophe. The correct phrasing should read "Just remember when YOU'RE..."
Very simple… I would recommend writing out ten sentences a day, using this contraction.
anonymus, that last comment was a joke. i don't think we are having a grammer class here.
Grammar? sounds like sassycat has nothing better to do on a Friday night but feed her 40 cats, brush up on the dewey decimal system, and teach grammar on a blog!
Sincerely,
Anonymous
Either that or Knox dont have one of them sex shops or no porn movies to rent
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