Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Here We Go!

Burrell has released his proposed 2011 budget, a whopping $563.3 million, a freaking increase in spending of $39 million! An increase! Does he not get it? The county is broke!

To cover his increase in spending, he is calling for a property tax increase of about $264 a year for the average home, which is valued at $200,000. This on top of the 16% increase in water usage fees for each of the next 4 years.

No where in his proposal does he suggest an across the board raise or even a cost of living increase for DeKalb employees, much less the police department. But what he is suggesting is giving a one time $250 bonus to all the Master Patrol Officers and a welfare check of $500 to all county employees making less than $35,000. per year. For all you supervisors, from sergeant to chief of police, go back to the hind tit and suck.

Of course Ellis' proposal is being met with resistance by some of the commissioners. They are hell bent on no new taxes unless the county government is reorganized and budgets are cut. Really? didn't they have all of 2010 to make drastic changes? Oh, that's right, they furloughed us and made us work holidays without pay to make ends meet. How silly of us to forget.

People, we have a battle laying ahead of us like we have never seen in the history of this police department. The battle will be tough, long and hard. We can't count on just a few to fight our fight. We all have to get involved.

There are meetings and strategies being planned behind the scenes in hopes of making a very loud and united front. We have citizens like J.D. among others on board, as well as business owners who will support us. But again, they can't do it alone, they will need us in mass numbers in uniform to show solidarity.

The commissioners are counting on us to be good little sheep, and go along with the program nicely. Just remember the 7 furlough days in 2010. Do you want more of the same on top of pension contribution increases and health insurance premium increases?

Remember the words of Jeff Rader, Commissioner of District 2: "If they want more, then they have to produce more". People, we are an arm of the government, we are not factory workers. We do not produce a product. We produce safety and security for the citizens and business owners of Dekalb County.

Click here for AJC article.

Click here to read Ellis' letter to employees.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never noticed Burrell's balls dragging the ground before..... hhmmmm. Must be more vigilant.

Anonymous said...

What happen to the study that cost thousands of dollars to save money and do away with wasteful spending?

I guess it is money the county can just forget that taxpayers paid to complete.

Why do we have these studies to make government more efficient and then just ignore the solution.

We need to hold the CEO and the BOC accountable to the question, why do we pay for these studies and then just ignore them.

But its taxpayer dollars paying for everything. This county need to wake up and look at all the waste that the CEO approves every day.

We spend millions of dollars in cars and gas for employees to drive back and forth to work every day.
When will this perk come to an end?

Give all county employees this perk and then we will be quiet.

This is just my opinion.

Anonymous said...

On the plus side, no furloughs and more cars.

On the down side, no raises and pension & insurance increases.

Gold Badge said...

Ellis' budget shows he's a typical Washington style politician. Reid and Pelosi would love him......remember a when a "decrease in the total increase was a CUT in spending"?....I'll bet Ellis clings to that like gravy on rice.

Cutting wasteful spending is NOT in their vocabulary. Did they really not get the message voters sent in November's election!

The ruling class will rue the day/next election cycle. They've awakened the sleeping giant that is tired of seeing their money wasted.

Anonymous said...

wow!!!!! $250, I feel like a waitress at a high end restuarant who just got a $1 tip on a $100 check.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a rediculous idea from Wiz Miller. Give only the topped out MPO a $250 one time bonus. Are you kiding me, is this suppose to keep Officers from leaving, I dont think so. Do they realize that the topped out MPO probably makes more money than most of the Sergeants in this Departments screwed up pay scale. It will take something drastic done imeadiately for most of us to stay. Lets start by something simular to what the CEO employees currently get, a take home car, raises, and a $500 per month car allowance!!!!!!!, and then I might stay.

CLARK GRISWOLD said...

Where is Eddie? He usually eats these goddam things....

Anonymous said...

What a slap in the face. Not only to the employees but also to the taxpayers!

Anonymous said...

Ellis also said he is saving the jobs of 73 officers who previously patrolled the area of the county that has since been incorporated by the city of Dunwoody. Those officers, who have been reassigned to other areas of the county, will cost the county $5.1 million.

What 73 officers were assigned just to Dunwoody? They make this stuff up as they talk. If they had an extra 73 officers every precinct would be in great manpower position today.

Dunwoody had 3 cars each shift working that territory.

Anonymous said...

They still don't understand not to spend on unuseful things right now!!!! Two libraries and a rec center.........Are you kidding me???

Then the "bonus checks." Stop furloughs, give me back my vacation days, and stop spending until the recession is over!!!!!

Anonymous said...

So what happens to everyone else other than master officers? We just nothing as usual. Soi how in the he'll does that help us out?

Anonymous said...

Well at least we'll have a rec center and 2 libraries. Ha! Yea right!!

Anonymous said...

Read the letter from Ellis. Only MPO's who have topped out will get the little bonus. His letter is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

What a crock of bull$h@t. Once again Sgt's and above are left out. Check out the pay disparity. We have MPO's making $10,000 more than Sgts at topped out pay.Nothing against M.P.O.'s but I'm sick of the wealth redistribution mindset, what is my reason to excel in this Dept? Oh wait $600, yeah rt I'm sure we will see that too.....

AllMyLife said...

CEO Ellis stop writing and sending these emails. You have not improved as an excellent, or even excel as a CEO. You still haven't given us all our perks that is required for the experienced worker to stay employed with DeKalb County gov't.

Anonymous said...

If I was a sergeant at DKPD I would ask for a voluntary demotion to MPO. Why would ANYONE want all the added responsibility and liability not to mention being the first one at work and the last one to leave every shift for less money? There are enough departments that would love to give a lateral transfer of rank or better to an experienced supervisor from Dekalb.

Anonymous said...

The just released budget calls for many layoffs. The higher salaries of PD will be getting let go first. I hope if you were a vested employee you signed retirement paperwork by now.

Anonymous said...

What a crock of shit!

73 officers assigned to Dunwoody? You wish!! Dunwoody has that now, but that's because they were sick of being neglected by the county!

$250 one time for topped out MPO's? Do you know how many topped out MPO's there are in this department? Since our pay raises have non-existent for the last three years, and virtually non-existent for the last decade, it's nearly impossible to top out as an MPO. To be a topped out MPO in this department, you'd have to be eligible for the early retirement, which I am sure 99% of the topped out MPO's took advantage of. $250 for topped out MPO's? What's that going to cost the county? $750?

Smoke and mirrors.

Anonymous said...

What in the hell? The county has 22 employees in a department that gives classes on gardening? Are you freaking kidding me? I'm getting furloughed so people can take free classes on gardening?? Go to the freaking library and check out a book if you want to learn how to garden! No wonder this county is running out of money!

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:46. is located at headquarters. Wiz Miller is his scapegoat. After Miller is gone we will see how long it will take for the truth to be discovered

Anonymous said...

Until the average voter and taxpayer in DeKalb feels the pain we have been feeling for years, then these clowns in Decatur will continue with this insanity. I say they need to increase taxes and millage rate even more. Maybe then they will boot the idiots and get someone up there with some sense.
Having our current commissioners run a county budget that funds a police department is like having burglars telling the homeowners how much stuff they will need to steal when they break into your house. Then again, maybe the voters of DeKalb wanted thieves running the show.
Also, in my opinion, having county employees teaching residents how to garden isnt a bad idea. The way things are going in this country they had better learn to garden if they want to eat!
Maybe the police can be used to teach the gardeners how to keep the neighbors from stealing thier vegatables at night. They will need that training once we are all gone.
Maybe the fire department can teach them how to burn things to stay warm and not burn thier house or apartment down.
Maybe Water and Sewer personnel can teach the voters how to use an outhouse since the county doesn't have enough money to pay those guys either. Remember, we now have a W&S infrastructure that has fallen into utter disrepair and we have a federal madate to fix it.
Do you see where the mentality of these idiot commissioners in Decatur is going? Think of them the next time you flush your toilet!

Anonymous said...

Tax increase? So the officers who own homes in Dekalb will be out of more money? Mr Ellis, how about giving the $250 bonus money to the officers who own homes in the county to offset their tax increase!

Anonymous said...

Wow.... I'm so close to being vested! So close, yet so far! All options are on the table come the end of my 10th year with Dekalb.

Anonymous said...

We all saw what happened last year. The BOC ignored CEO Ellis’s budget and passed their own. The primary mission of the CEO’s office is to provide a budget and enforce policy as directed by the BOC. As the BOC ignores the CEO’s budget and the CEO selectively applies policy to the rank ‘n file employees whilst ignoring the policies for his staff and political connections. I submit that the CEO’s office is redundant and should be abolished at first chance with no loss of services to the citizens.
The CEO’s proposed bonuses is BS. A naked attempt to buy DKPD support for a few dollars. Note to CEO Ellis. Your entire fracken’ staff receives a transportation allowance of five grand plus a year by contract and the least you can come up for the cops is 750 dollars? Get fracken’ real, mate!
As usual the rest of the county employees are left sucking hind tit. No raises in years. No communication between BOC or the CEO on serious issues such as no employee pay study in 13 fracken’ years and the last one screwed the professionals in favor of labor. The CEO and BOC reside in snazzy new offices while my co-workers at the Claudia Lawson Building work under tarps because the BOC will not fund fixing the fracken’ roof.
You live like kings while treating county employees as dirt.
And you call yourself "progressive"?

Anonymous said...

I didn't believe there was the gardening class until I read it on the AJC. And 4H!! I'm afraid to know where these idiot BOC members waste tax payer monies at. Its truly disgusting.

I don't understand why we open a new park and then have to close another one to make budget. Is it just to keep employees working because they aren't really needed.

This whole county is top heavy. Constant promotions and everybody moves up the chain in their department and then complain they don't have employees. When there are 4 lts on one shift, 2 captains on day watch, is this all really needed. How many does it take to do a damn watch list?

Anonymous said...

Regarding the topped-out MPOs receiving a one-time $250.00 bonus, let's break that down shall we. I'm an MPO. I've been here over 13 years now. But I am nowhere near being topped-out because I had not yet reached that level before Vermin changed things around here. Under this current system, if I chose to remain an MPO for an entire career of 30 years, I will never top-out as an MPO. Badge numbers somewhere around the 1700s and below managed to top-out and there are few still here at the rank of MPO that would receive this one-time $250.00 payout. Well, at my pay rate, $250.00 is just a few dollars above what I make in one day before taxes and deductions. So for these eligible MPOs, it will only amount to a day's pay or less. People, that's an insult. Smoke and mirrors is all that it is. Over the course of a year, the breakdown of $250.00 spread over days worked is less than $1.00/day...before taxes and deductions. This so-called incentive for retention of experienced officers will cost the county virtually nothing in the grand scheme of the overall budget.

Personally, I have been eligible for the maximum "raise" for the past 3 years but have received NOTHING! Just like the rest of you. No one will ever top-out in any rank around here anymore with no raises. An idiot can figure that out. And the pay disparity we have in this department will require some serious and extraordinary adjustments to correct. It will cost a lot of money in order for long-time sergeants with badge numbers around the 1800s and above to be increased above the highest paid MPOs, and the LTs, and so on. The way I see it, the only fair way to fix this problem now is to model our pay scale after the Feds. On that scale, it is possible for subordinates to be paid more than superiors but those subordinates have far more years of service than the fast-tracking superiors. The comparison would be something like a five year sergeant versus a a topped-out in 7 or 11 year MPO. Under the original system, an MPO would top-out in 11 years. It then dropped to 7 years. The rank of sergeant and above did not have a top-out cap. As far as I know, they still don't. So, eventually, over the realm of total years of service all things being equal, the career-oriented sergeant will eventually surpass and continue to make more and more than the topped-out MPO over the same number of years of service.

So, the way I see it, some serious adjustments need to be made to the pay scale and retroactively applied. Back-pay and all. I really try to be optimistic, but with the direction of DeKalb County, I have to be honest and say I do not see the light at the end of this tunnel for me or any other employee of DeKalb County for that matter.

Anonymous said...

Here the latest PERK , we are going to have officer and sergeant of the month from each watch. This award will not reflect how many tickets you write- but on what you accomplish for the month. The reward will be a TAKE HOME CAR FOR THE MONTH.

So we are in a budget crunch and with no new cars and we now have money for five precincts to furnish take home cars.

No wonder we are going without merit raises or cost of living raises ,increase health care cost and more money to the pension.

You got to love this place to stay here.

Anonymous said...

Nobody has mentioned that $250.00 is 68 and a half cents per day. Oh forgot taxes, that's 48 cents per day. Dammit forgot that pension contribution, that is now 39 cents per day. Crap thought I might be able to get a cup of coffee on the way in each day. Looks like maybe a cup every other day. Thanks for remembering us Mr. Ellis. Your gratitude for protecting your home each day is like Vernon's gratitude towards Dunwoody. Oh but that gratitude is why Dunwoody now actually has 73 officers isn't it. When a whole precinct sometimes has less than ten officers on duty don't try to kid everybody. This county's problems will only be solved the way Fulton's were solved. INCORPORATION!!!!!!! Then Tucker, Emory, Brookhaven, etc. will have adequate patrols and a positive budget. Citizens wake these criminals up!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations "Wiz Miller" at least you accomished one thing as the Director, you managed to make sure that your homegirl Vicki Logan got promoted to Captain. Lets see how long before she is a Major.

Anonymous said...

Ellis is playing games here.

He wants to be able to say he's giving bonuses to MPO's. That will hopefully make him look good in the media. But the truth is in the details, like so many have pointed out already. Only topped out MPO's?? Just how many of those are there in the county after the early retirements?? I know one, I think. I am not sure. I would like the media to look into this. Just how many topped out MPO's are there? I'd like to see some "Tough Questions" about how many officers will actually benefit from this!! 4?? 5??? 6???? Are we supposed to feel all warm and fuzzy because Ellis gave less than a day's pay to less than a handful of officers??

Anonymous said...

Officer and Sgt of the month haha? This PD is run like an elementary school.

Anonymous said...

From a Dunwoody resident: Dunwoody Police Department has roughly 40 officers - that number includes Chief, Lts, Sgts, Detectives. Add a few for civilians.
Where did you come up with 73 ????

Anonymous said...

Dunwoody may not have 73 officers, but they have a lot a more than the 2 officers they used to enjoy under DKPD. I think that was the point. An area that can support a department of 40 officers with top of the line equipment was only being given 2 officers! So where was the rest of the money going? It's no wonder Dunwoody left!

Anonymous said...

Take home cars for Sgt. and officer of the month has been around for approximately three years.

Anonymous said...

Come on Ellis!

Really, now. Last year a proposed 1% pay raise for all. Not all of us are dumb enough to have done the math and figured out it would mean nothing. Now, only $250.00 for only a few eligible MPO county employees. Since I have not received a raise in the last three and what is now going on four years, up to now I should be making 11% more compounded over those 3 years than I do now.

For crying out loud, you and the BOC have really screwed things up. I seriously doubt any of you are capable of ever fixing things so that citizens and business will ever consider investing in DeKalb County ever again. It looks like we are doomed just as DeKalb County is doomed. Thanks for nothing.

Sincerely,
Seeking Other Employment

Anonymous said...

Good news people! The officer and sergeant of the month (hey, are Lts included in that morale-incentive program also?) take-home car program won't strain current resources for too long. I have heard the county has ordered 172 Crown Vics (all black) :)

This is some good news for a change, right?

Anonymous said...

I agree Vicki HOgan does not deserve to be promoted. There were so many other more qualified candidates who took that test who have been here a lot longer than she has. When a person has a "pillowtop" mattress attached to their back their entire career I guess it would be well deserved. Well Wiz Miller and his protege' Dale Holmes made sure she had the blueprint to #1 and I'm sure she will thank them both.

Anonymous said...

It's always been good to be female when it comes to promotional tests in this department.