”
I heard on TV that Pacific Grove workers all decided (and the
union agreed) that all workers would take a cut in pay so that no
one had to be laid off. Why can’t our city officials work something
out like that?
”
“I heard on TV that Pacific Grove workers all decided (and the union agreed) that all workers would take a cut in pay so that no one had to be laid off. Why can’t our city officials work something out like that?”
“What’s all this print about cutting from the bottom? Would you please obtain a list of jobs slated for lay off? Was losing nine out of 15 clerical jobs not enough?
You guys are going to come unglued when your calls go unanswered, when you can’t get copies of things, when you go to the office and it is closed or no one is at the counter even if the door is open. Time will tell how much the public will be effected.
Exacerbating the issue is the fact that the residents don’t want firemen or policemen cut, which means the rest of the city must pick up the slack with regard to the RIF plan.
Park Hill was cut drastically, so where else would you like to cut there? Recreation pretty much runs with little staff these days, so where do you want to cut there? The only support staff in the fire department was cut, so where do you want to cut there?
You aren’t even going to have a code enforcement officer. You are really going to feel that one, and the building inspectors can’t fill that gap because they are gone too. No more calling in complaining about your neighbor because there will be no one to help you; at least not in a timely manner.
I wanted to also tell you that the city does not have any employees hired within the last two weeks. The city is laying off people with five plus years in. Some have 10 plus years in and more. If you think the department heads know everything – wrong again. Some of us, on the bottom, have been here a lot longer than the top because we always perform and they have never had to fire even one of us like they have past management. We are a team, and management without support will be much less effective and you are going to pay a lot of money for managers to do lower paying duties, but if that’s what you want so be it. You’re the boss.
You don’t want new taxes, then don’t complain when your service level drops significantly in July. We all know the cost of living goes up and up but you can’t seem to understand that running a city or county, cost wise now, is not the same as running it in the ’70s, much less the same as our household expenses.
I am not just referring to salaries, but of operating expenses. Please let me remind you that you might pay a lot of taxes but the city does not receive a lot of your property taxes. However, the school district receives 64 percent of your property tax dollars as opposed to the pennies the city gets. You have a valid gripe regarding taxes, but you are making it with the wrong entity.
Let me point out the more you cut the more you are going to pay for less. The employees are not the only ones who are going to pay. Residents are under the impression that the city has fat and you don’t know how far off base you are with that rationale.
In closing, when the city starts raising fees soon, I am not going to feel bad like I have in the past. You seal your own fate when you don’t support the very government that serves you but go ahead and endorse the deep cuts. We all pay with that strategy.”
“This is in response to the Citizens Voice letter on ‘affordable housing’ and ‘drive-bys’ in Carmel, Pebble Beach, etc. I don’t know about Los Altos Hills or Atherton, but Carmel, if allowed to build a subdivision, does have inclusionary housing, as does Pebble Beach.
It seems Monterey County is already way ahead of San Benito County. There is a moratorium on building new subdivisions in the areas listed in that letter.”
