Tuesday, December 7, 2010

JD Speaks Up For Us......2011 Not Looking So Good.

JD held to his promise and spoke on our behalf at today's commission meeting, and we truly thank him for that. For the officers that took time to appear at the meeting, we thank you too.

Today's meeting was pretty much a wash. We knew going in that the commissioners are going to approve increasing our pension contribution 100%. It appears the vote will be December 14, 2010. We would like to thank Jeff Wiggs of the F.O.P., Captain Brent Langston of the Fire Department,and James Underwood of Water and Sewer for coming forward.

We learned today that the housing market in DeKalb County continues to bottom out, meaning tax revenue will be even lower then expected. The commissioners have been forecasting a budget deficit in 2011 of 50 million dollars, up until to today. Who knows what it will be when the numbers are hashed out.

This all means that 2011 will be nothing short of hard times. What we have to do is protect ourselves as much as possible. We must hold the commissioners accountable when it comes the budget. They must stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of the employees and through revenue generated through traffic citations.

December 15 is the beginning of budget talks. The key word to listen for is FURLOUGHS. We must stand strong and demand we not be furloughed one single day in 2011. The commissioners have to find other ways, in the form of cut back of services, not salaries.

We must make a strong showing at all budget hearings. Now is the time for all involved to come together and make a stand. It is time for Jeff Wiggs of the Police Department, Captain Langston of the Fire Department and James Underwood of Water and Sewer to set down together for a unified front. Meetings need to be held and a game plan formulated. If all three departments, and all other departments join together, the commissioners will have to take notice. Each department can't fight this fight on their own. It is time to join hands.

Here is the video of the commission meeting. We tired to make it as simple as possible. Fast forward to 40:00 to hear JD speak. Then you can click on D8 in the left hand column to listen to comments concerning our pension.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks JD! Good seeing you again!

Anonymous said...

(It's easier to go down to Section C Public Comments and click there, than to try to scroll forward to 40 minutes).
JD - wonderful job! As a citizen who does what I can to support DKPD, from my heart I thank you for what you did today.

Anonymous said...

Sad thing.... cutting the expansion of Parks or other non-necessary items is not even on the table....Here come the furloughs.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your support JD. It's citizens like yourself and others that make being a Dekalb County Police Officer worthwhile. I really hope this mess gets straightened out soon because my budget can't take many more hits. Once again... Thank you JD for your thoughtful and intelligent representation of the Officers and Firefighters of Dekalb.

Gold Badge said...

JD thank you for your help maybe this will inspire some other officers to stand up.
Although I dont see any help from our BOC.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to all the guys who spoke in support of us. To JD and the citizens who care about your community I send a big thank you! The sad fact of the matter is that this BOC and CEO do not care about the employees or citizens. They forge ahead with their own agendas. There will come a point where risking your life only to come up short making ends meet will not be worth it. The repeated " at least you have a job " just will not cut it forever. This attitude is why Dunwoody incorporated and now is successful. How much more can we take? I witness county waste on a daily basis and not one commissioner seems to see the same waste. The administration wants us to bend and bend, but eventually if you bend something too far it breaks!

Anonymous said...

It's a shame people can't put aside their egos and rank long enough to talk out these issues realistically. Seriously, if anyone was any good at their jobs this county wouldn't have all of these problems.

Anonymous said...

I still find it highly suspect that there aren't other areas that the BOC is looking into in order to save money. I mean seriously, cut the luxuries before the necessities.
I guess safe communities and immediate medical attention don't really matter to the BOC so long as they can position themselves above us proletariat in their ivory towers and get fat off of the taxpayers.
Maybe when there's nobody to pull off the road and guard Ellis's house because he's terrified of a vague comment that's not even a threat will we have some education taking place.

Anonymous said...

"COMMANDERS" pushing the usual "PRODUCTIVITY" continue to fail to see the bigger picture. Officers can arrest the same criminal over and over again, which they do, but unless the court actually punishes them it remains pointless. There is no current deterrent for criminals in Dekalb County and everyone knows it. This is why criminals flourish here and the Police cannot make an impact despite what an egotistical commander tells you. Some are more concerned if you kiss their ass or not. WAKE UP, no one over the age of 5 or worth their salt as a human being is impressed by your rank or command over the cesspool from Turnerhill to I-285, get over yourself.

Anonymous said...

Clearly the budget is in play with the promotional lists as well. From what I've learned everyone making substantial salaries were placed at the end of the lists so 10% from promotion could not be added to it. Standby for suits...

Turd Fergusson said...

Property values are in the shitter, time to raise taxes losers. If our dumbass commissioners would raise the taxes like they have done all over the metro area in anticipation of the declining property values the deficit will be much less.

Even if they raise the taxes, the citizens and businesses will still be paying less in property taxes than they did last year. I know because it happened where I live. taxes went up but I pay less because my property value dropped.

Anonymous said...

VERY true 6:27 comment... They are solely concerned with their own career obviously.

Anonymous said...

Clearly the budget is in play with the promotional lists as well. From what I've learned everyone making substantial salaries were placed at the end of the lists so 10% from promotion could not be added to it. Standby for suits.

LOL, you must be one of those veterans who scored in H Band or at the bottom of the Lt's test. There is no truth in your comment at all. There are several officers in A and B band who are making more than officers in the rest of the bands. The top ten on the sgt's list have a average of seven years on the force. Most of them make about the same or more than their supervisor. If you spent less time on this blog posting BS, you would have done better on whatever test you did not do well on.

Anonymous said...

The trend from the West has reached us as usual. Prepare for mass layoffs next year with minimal 911 response yet increased revenue generating unit assignments. If you are a vested employee I suggest you freeze everything NOW while you still can and head for a fiscally responsible community. Your performance standards will be based solely on your tax collecting abilities and not police work by any means.

Anonymous said...

It's official a letter from CEO Ellis was read to SO. We will be furloughed 17 days next year

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:31 You have a valid point. For those of you sitting around saying you're going to do the bare minimum, fine. Do it. While you're camped out behind the Publix on Morning Watch, be sure to Google "Police Layoff" on that overpriced cell phone you can barely afford.

I'm tired of hearing about how "we're not writing any citations unless WE GET...." Keep up that attitude, and those guys that have been here for less than 5 years are going to see themselves laid off faster than it takes you to put that unit into drive. Don't think it'll happen? Ask those brothers and sisters in Blue out in Tulsa, Oakland, Trenton, Akron, and all the other places. 80% of those departments have a police union, so don't think the FOP or anyone else can stop a layoff. Someone posted somewhere not long ago about how they remembered when policing was a fun job, and that they looked forward to coming to work back then. I can remember when it was that way too, in fact it was yesterday while I was out there! It's what you make of your situation. Go ahead and stay on your ticket strike campaign if you want. All it's doing is giving the BOC ammo to drop positions out of our department. Complain about the health cost increase, lack of option, increase in pension, no raise etc., but the bottom line is this: Layoffs are coming for those with less than 5 years service, and early out retirement for those with greater than 20 years. That my friends is a fact.

DeKalb Officers said...

Anonymous 9:48,

Can you get a copy of the letter?

Anonymous said...

17 days? What a coincidence! St. Patrick's Day is March 17th! I think I'll be calling in sick that day!

Anonymous said...

ANNON 12:46 ACTUALLY you are wrong as I did not take any promotion test, but I'm sure you are used to being wrong. I didn't waste my time on it as I have a college degree and am waiting to be vested then going with the Feds. Why would ANYONE with any sense invest their energies on such a ridiculous biased department, besides you and your obvious GED cohorts.

Anonymous said...

If we are being furloughed 17 days next year, then okay, DeKalb won't see me for a month!!!!! I will find something else to do to provide income and really knuckle down to fight the BOC!

AL

Anonymous said...

Anon December 9, 2010 9:53 PM,

I don't know how long you have been here, but for many of us who have been around awhile, the BOC only trends to increasing our costs while taking more away while expecting more and more. Is this really acceptable to you? Why should we just keep bending over and taking it? Where is the appreciation for having public safety? The BOC has to do better and the BOC has to consist of people who are qualified to legitimately run a business. We haven't had that and we don't have that now.

For those of us who came here career-oriented, and have been and continue to do our best to make it so, we deserve better. And for those who have come along (not me) more recently hired under the revised pension plan I believe deserve better and deserve to be rewarded with a like pension plan.

Until the BOC realizes that DeKalb County's future depends on public safety in its homes, work places, schools, shopping centers, etc. etc. and therefore re-invests in public safety as it once did, then growth in DeKalb County will only continue to decline, crime and blight will continue to escalate, and no entity in their right mind will consider coming to DeKalb County to add to the county's overall tax base.

One other thing. DeKalb County indeed has and is experiencing declining property taxes on top of residents leaving, other homes foreclosing, and businesses moving or going bankrupt. Proportionately, there is less to be taxed and less value to tax on. Yet, the BOC wants to maintain or increase services. How do they expect to do this? Right now, it is on the backs of all of their employees. This is unacceptable. And they are and will continue losing their employees left and right.

Someday, the BOC and citizens of DeKalb County, and let me specifically refer to the ones who apparently don't care unlike JD, will wake up and there will be no public safety left for them or perhaps other county services. An expert I believe it must have been only recently told them this at one of the BOC meetings.

Bottom line, collectively the current BOC leadership is horrible. And collectively their predecessors were too. Now, DeKalb County is in a real mess. It is up to them to stop being so damn hard-headed and stubborn and realizes it is high time to seriously re-invest in their public safety so that everything else in DeKalb County (homes, neighborhoods, businesses, and schools) can start to recover. Then, and only then, will DeKalb County ever have a chance to recover and hopefully flourish once again.

AL

Anonymous said...

Not sure why Ellis would write a letter to the SHeriff about furloughs, since he apparently hasn't included them in his budget (which hasn't been released or approved yet). If we get furloughed, it's coming from the BOC. And didn't the S.O. NOT HAVE FURLOUGHS? Why would they next year? Smells like BS.

Anonymous said...

Many local governments are now relying on State and Federal law enforcement for their needs as local is simply not sustainable any longer. The DKPD demise is obviously by design. Again, if you are vested consider yourself lucky and freeze it while you can. You will have a costly "I told you so" coming next year if you don't heed the warnings.

Anonymous said...

GSP doesn't have the manpower. They cover the whole state, but they have fewer officers than DKPD. GSP would have to more than double in size to handle DeKalb.

The feds can't enforce any GA state laws. Ask this guy about it: http://www.ajc.com/news/federal-police-officer-sentenced-771521.html