I’m sure you have heard, but council just keeps getting better and better. Someone fucked up in payroll and now council will get pay increase retroactive to 2005! I’m sure that person’s job is now secure. And their part-time gig now pays $71,500, up from $65,000, that is a $6,000, or 10%!!! Who else has gotten such a raise in the past year or few?? I work hard and all private business can afford is 1%, and these self-entitled assholes give themselves 10%! 30 Million in the red and these fucks do this. It is high time that there is a revolt, or simply people just leave. Leave these idiots with visions of fairies and sugar plums with a big fucking deficit and less tax base, then see them raise taxes to cover the shortfall and see even more poor souls leave until that Kelly fuck is left alone wondering “where did everyone go??”
So what got accomplished last night? They want to outsource a study on the Woodside ferry even though that was among the top contenders for stimulus money, and some powerpoint presentation on saunas in Sweden. Oh and more pay for doing less…
— the taxpayer (I don’t think I can afford to die at this rate!)
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2009.
You government hard at work is what that is !!! HArd at work looking after their own and screwing the public as usual . With our economy just starting to stablize – by no means anyways do any “government ” employee or elected crook opps i mean official deserve a raise. Thats just a pile of bullshit and the only way to stop any of that is a TOTAL population revolt against them . WTF ummmmm 100 odd people against a total canadian population thats sick of the shit ? Who wins? Yea – love to see us all grow the balls and just start exactaly that – we gotta as a population stop laying the fuck over the barrel and takin it like a bitch and do something other then bitch . I’m not talking war or violence ( just to appease the bitchers that might whine and bitch about it ) I’m talking about all of us as rate payers take up against that shit – stand up and really bitch it would force them – we after all elect them and pay them – so ultimately we have the power – especially when the whole population speaks – to toss em out and halt whatever the majority is against !!
Oh, To see the day when the average schmuck gets a seat in public office and realise that they usually how much work it actually is.
Fever, they still certainly didn’t deserve or earn a 10% increase…most especially when the municipality is running a rather large deficit with talks of further property tax increases. You have to admit it was pretty bad form on their part if in fact it was an actual increase, the way the OP describes it as a payroll fuckup might be that they were getting stiffed on paychecks going back to ’05…if that is the case then there really is no cause for “revolt”, as if that ever really makes a difference…same shit different faces.
weedhog, you have it right! Let’s march against city hall!! Tuesday’s good for you? … I have a thing…can we make it Thursaday? … Anyone … Bueller…?,.. Oh yeah, I forgot; we’re too apathetic to actually do anything.
I’d love to get a 10% pay increase too DER?, but honestly, we could pay our elected officials shit, like our friends down south which leads to most officials holding both office and another, usually prominent position within business/law/what have you, which in turn leads to issues like conflict of interest an significantly more pressure from lobbies and groups that essentially pay these people.
Fever…many of our officials do infact hold other positions, be it various Boards of Directors as well as shareholders in some of our biggest corporate institutions. I am not saying that they are willfully in conflict of interest, but there is some pretty uncomfortable association occuring.
What I love is that shit for brains Dawn Sloane has the gall to say it was staff’s fault. I don’t know about anyone else but when I look at my pay stub and see incorrect figures (especially below my wage) I pipe up pretty quick to correct it. So if they can’t read/take responsibility for their own pay, why the fuck are they spending our money?
theweedhog, LIFE SUCKS… long lost brothers, by any chance?
Sure, want $70,000?
No sweat, just be willing to have assholes calling you 24/7, every type of self-appointed dick watching your every move and calling you on non-existent wrong-doing, no private life and the list goes on.
And don’t forget Bitch board after Bitch board of semi-literate fucks saying “them polititaxians are idiots! Sure I never vote, but we should shoot them all, Hyuck, Hyuck!”
I know of one pol who after major surgery and while recovering in the ICU have morons calling them at the hospital demanding that a neighbour’s truck be moved. “I don’t what shape they’re in, I pay their salary.”
Oh, but all you brave rebels would tell that caller where to go, wouldn’t you? Them Tim B would be calling and Frank magazine would be running an article that you missed a credit card payment back in 1989.
I find most of “they’re all bumz” tend to be from a certain, how do you say it, educational class.
haha epic Luthor post!
Yes, they do DER? But in extremely limited capacity. I’ll use Reg Rankin for instance (I cite him, simply because I worked on a campaign for him once, and I’m good friends with his son) He owns a gas station and is still a lawyer, and is a councilor. He hasn’t taken any billable hours in over 10 years as far as I know, and the gas station, he’s owner in name only, as he essentially bailed out the previous owners. That said, yes he does have business interests, but strictly in the capacity as a community leader.
Well said, ML. Sadly very true. People rarely seem to associate what politicians actually do in the run of a day. I think people have the misconception that they sit behind a desk all day, smoke cigars and drink scotch on the people’s dime.
Matthew Luthor,
I could not have said it better myself!
I don’t mind paying these people a great wage, if we get value for money… lately it seems the value we are getting is so-so at best.
Yeah, I have to say that my councillor (Jennifer Watts) is awesome.
First off, she initiated the bottled-water ban in HRM among many other accomplishments. Sometimes I email her about something that concerns me in Council, and she always gets back to me within a day, is very responsive to my concerns, provides me with further information (documents/charters) so I can investigate the issue myself, and invites me to present my research or concerns to Council, if I feel I should.
It might seem like they’re overpaid, but after taxes (ironically, haha) they’re only netting $45,000-$50,000, and probably do more work in a week than most schmucks who make considerably more than that.
“part time gig” ? Like Matthew Luthor said, you’re on call 24/7, there’s no such thing as part time when you’re a councillor.
Although, I have many complaints about how councillors handle things, I still think they aren’t paid enough for what they have to put up with. Yeah, I know, if they don’t like it, they shouldn’t have signed up for the gig, but I doubt anyone truly knows how bad something’s going to be until they experience it. A lot of those folks went into it believing they were going to make things better for their city, they didn’t realize how much bullshit and roadblocks they’d come across just to change one little thing, much less bigger issues.
There isn’t a big enough paycheque in the world that would entice me to put up with the public whining and demands that they have to deal with.
As for the back-pay issue, I’m sure there isn’t anyone here or elsewhere that would refuse a payment of owed wages. Wherever or whomever made the mistake, it happened. It still is money that is owed, regardless of who the recipient of those owed wages are, they’re entitled to it.
My step-dad got a 10% raise on an already well-paying job a couple months ago. He does industrial cleaning; sand-blasting, vacuum truck something…and a lot of things that sound unbearable, especially in the cold, and he also has rheumatoid arthritis.
That’s my answer to the OP’s question “Who else has gotten such a raise in the past year or few??” :). My step-dad is a very veryyyy hard-working person and derserves what he got. As for council members, they certainly don’t just sit around and do nothing either! I could barely stand being a supervisor in a drug store and having to deal with idiot complaints and people who do nothing to help themselves and expect others to do everything for them, I can’t imagine what councillors have to go through all the time, every single day. They don’t seem to really be paid that much at all for what they do.
I don’t think 70K is unreasonable. I don’t expect them to work for free and 70K isn’t what I would consider excessive or some extravagant waste of tax payers dollars. If you are worried about how your tax dollars are being spent, I’m sure you will find lots of other things that are more clearly wasteful.
If it’s not already, I think the councillors wages should increase with inflation each year. Now if they want more than that maybe the public (as their employer) should have more of a say when it comes time to renegotiate their salary. Of course, I don’t know which would be the most distorted evaluation….a group of politicians deciding how much they are worth or a group of citizens deciding how much the politicians are worth to them.
Just because I don’t always agree with councilors, or what they spend their time on during council meetings, anytime I have sent any of them emails they have been very cognizant with regards to “returning my call”… Especially when you consider the other 20000+ people in any of these councilors districts theat they are doing the same thing for at any given time…
wait… has this shifted to actually defending this and them?
holy snap and crap, I never thought I’d see the day….
deficit and recession = no raise… and certainly not fucking 10% !
set a base and keep with inflation I might get on board with… and deflation as it was a bit ago.
don’t base it on any other place because (as was said) if they are doing the same then you’re over-inflating your salaries by leaps and bounds… and no place is truly close enough like any other to be representative imo.
I just read the article…the money people are bitching about? It was actually wages that they were short-changed on…and comments under it have people saying “too bad so sad” “you snooze you loose”, I wonder if they would be marching to the same tune if they were shorted on a dozen or so paychecks?
It’s not a raise, it’s their already rightfully EARNED salary.
Fever…our families might run in the same social circles…or there is at least a potential for overlap. Funny thing is…we may actually know of eachother in a peripherial sense.
10% over 5 years = 2% per year – they went without a COLA, therefore, it’s what they should have received anyway… Besides, an extra 6K/year would equate to $500/month, which, after taxes in that particular bracket translates to about a bag of illegal smokes worth of raise…
I know of a few people who would probably make great Councillors and even a great mayor, but won’t do it because the compensation for it does not even come close to outweighing the shit they would have to do and put up with. If I was ever smart enough, I sure as fuck wouldn’t want to be a politician.
you have got to be kidding me people.these clowns do diddly squat for you,or me.they go to work,put in 2-3 hours,have a nice meal,at our expense,then take their taxpayer funded cars and go home,to their nicer taxpayer dollar homes.and who said that crime doesn’t pay?these people are not at your beck and call 24/7,you are lucky if you get a call back in two months.better than 90 percent of these people don’t give a rat’s ass for us,they know they have a very cushy job,and really can’t be fired,same as some union people.i really think that if we had an honest reliable government,in whatever area,it would freeze over in hell.
Two words: TREVOR ZINCK
gidget, “it’s what they should have received anyway” …
uh, why? just because you’re employed doesn’t mean you’re entitled to raises every year.
In these times, it’s more common to lay people off AND implement a raise freeze for those fortunate not to be canned.
Again…the money isn’t a raise…say it with me now…NOT A RAISE.
What it actually iswas: Wages that were not paid when they should have been.
Wouldn’t everyone here be vehemently pissed if their employer was shorting them on their checks? Would you not want to be reimursed in full???? What if you were told by a bunch of not involved strangers…”Too bad so sad, you don’t deserve to get thaqt money.”
Stop being so hypocritical…anyone that says that they would still say “forget about the money” if their employer short changed them is flatout lying.
If you sign on for a job and are guaranteed a “cost of living allowance” of 2% per year which allows for inflation (which, BTW is between 3 and 5% in NS), and you don’t have it paid to you, then you “should have received it anyway”, zZz.
The only reason people are pissed is because it looks like a huge sum of money all in one shot. Most unionized, government, and public sector workers get a “COLA” of 2% per year, and nobody bitches about the “extra money” they make because nobody sits around and does the math on it.
And just because it’s “more common” right now to lay people off doesn’t mean everyone’s doing it. I know of 11 companies that expanded this year in NS, half of which are still doing so in large numbers. One of which has implemented retroactive raises for employees which amounts to more than this one. Are we going to give them shit because they made money and were fair to their employees? Nope, ’cause they’re private sector.
ah, so that’s what COLA is… gonna have to get me one of those…
this private sector crap is the pits.