Sometimes it's a Toss Up

As more and more cities across this country are facing tough budget cuts and some even close to bankruptcy, the biggest cost in most all cases is public safety. Fire and Police departments are being forced to downsize and the police literally do not have the manpower to keep up with the growing crime. Our PBSO in Lake Worth is doing a good job but can we continue to afford this premium service?

It’s a toss up at times and I’m not sure which is worse—Unions unwilling to face reality in this financial crisis that has hit every municipality in the country and do what’s right to protect the citizens, or those committing the crimes. It may seem highly inappropriate to criticize those who are protecting us, but some of the actions of Unions that represent public safety are outrageous.

Last year, the PBSO took a 4% raise while inflation was -0.4%. Their contract called for an up to 7% increase. They get generous retirement packages and salaries. Protecting the people they serve is one thing but Unions taking advantage of those they protect and holding the citizens up to hostage for higher entitlements, is just plain wrong. Greed is a crime.

Perhaps we all will have to take the advice of Judge Mackey in the largest county in Ohio when he said, "Arm yourself, " as they are facing serious financial problems thanks to the Unions. "And as far as the Judge telling you to arm and protect yourselves, you don't have any other option," Williams (a certified arms instructor) told WKYC. "We don't have the law enforcement out here to handle it right now." Read about it HERE.

Great looking car, but a Toyota will do.

This is what the police are counting on--cities getting into a panic on public safety. Afterall, isn't this what got us the PBSO to begin with here in the city of Lake Worth? It was a Commission listening to a few, based on a political vote, discounting the monetary consequences even though many of us spoke out against the merger and wanted to retain our own police department where we had some control. You buy a Jaguar, you pay the price. You buy a Toyota and it gets you to the same destination and its cheaper to maintain.

We all need to do our part to get this country back in shape and it should start with the Unions. As an example, the Auto industry in this country was ruined by Union greed. The "oversized UAW-driven pay package for Detroit is 132 percent higher than that of the entire manufacturing sector of the U.S."

As one person stated, "Get Rid of the Unions, Pay the Fire Fighters and Police more; Eliminate the un-fundable pensions and over stuffed perks that the unions demand...those that Bankrupt our cities and States! Public employees are, and should be just that, not members of Criminal Union organizations."

We learned the other night that the City is trying to come to the bargaining table with our three unions but they won't budge. It was stated that we have 460 employees with only top management and their secretaries non Union members. Union demands have gotten out of control and our Human Resources Director said that "We have given our rights away for so long and we need to take them back." Susan Stanton, City Manager said, "We have had bad, bad city management for not negotiating contracts." Not only have we had bad past management, but we have had irresponsible past city commissions that voted on terrible and devastating contracts and allowed this to happen.

As our Financial Advisory Board moves forward, I hope that they can at least give an opinion on the biggest drain to our city budget...Unions and all their demands. And don't forget to ask your elected officials (those who took campaign contributions from and were endorsed by these Unions and are really a conflict of interest) as to what they think we should do about them in order to save our City when foreclosures are up and unemployment is at 12.1% in Palm Beach County.