The commission has passed the latest budget proposal. Some of the highlights are: No furlough days, no merit pay increases, no paid holidays and Burrell Ellis reduces his salary by 2.5 precinct.
Click here for AJC article.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
50 comments:
Dekalb County sucks, I'm done working, no more tickets.....Dekalb you have free reign from me i'll give you that warning you all usually beg me to give you. you can thank your board of commissioners.....but be also sure to thank them for your house being broken into, you being robbed at gun point, and you car being stolen on a daily basis. If you want to find me come look behind a church or closed business i'll be filling out my application for other Police Depts.
p.s.- when you find me dont ask me for anything!
When I inquired about a job here many years ago, you offered me a package of incentives to work for your department.
You have now broken your word.
No longer does my honor bind me to give you an expected set of results.
So Dekalb has spoken...... they have taken us for granted!
The crazy thing about all this is that the "White Shirts" will demand the same level of service(response time, number of tickets and number of arrests) for less money?
Personally, less compensation and paid time off means it will take me longer to go 10-8 from that 41,
...to go 10-8 from that 42,
...to go 10-8 from that 65
...to go 10-8 from that 87
...to go 10-8 from that 45, entering auto,
...to check that nuisance 3,
...to go 10-8 from that quota mandated 10-48 (which will result in a single ticket and a number of warnings),
...to go 10-7 when I deliberately drive much more slowly and carefully to insure that I don't buy an unpaid vacation day via an officer involved accident when responding to a priority 3 call.
Putting my unit back in service means all my J2 has to be carefully done before I'll be available for the next dispatch.
If the BoC gets the same level of service for the same cost, there is no reason for them to come to the table and be fair with the employees.
If life and limb is not in question, there is no rush. It wasn't important to the Dekalb, its not important to me.
"You have now broken your word."
Well put! Ditto!
Zero tickets for you Dekalb. I will not neglect the citizens, but I have been neglected. I will be the first to apologize to the citizens in advance. Sorry for the longer response times because officers are quiting are we are short staff, sorry for your familly members being involved in an accident and they're waiting one to two hours for police to respond because officer don't have anything to work for. We get no merit increase, no holidays....etc. You voted for those incompetent commisioners! Will you vote for them next term. Your property tax will be increased anyway and guess what it's gonna pay for? NOT YOUR SAFETY! I hope y'all are happy! My motivation to police is gone.
To the CEO and the County Commissioners: You have violated every tenant of fair treatment for your employees. You have treated us like second class citizens, and taken every chance to prove your “entitlement” with your personal pay raises and refusal to give back what you force the men and women who work for you to lose. I can see the future already; officers refusing to work overtime since the unfair pay system already takes it away at every turn. Officers refusing to respond to a call for On-Call teams, since you don’t pay the gas that goes in their car. Officers are going to refuse to do anything but the bare minimum. And what will you do? Your cronies and stooges will start threatening and making examples of good officers. Folks – you kick a dog one too many times and it will bite you – and you have kicked this dog one too many times. Get ready to see mass refusals to write tickets, to perform in any way but the most minimum necessary. If I were you I would look for some private security – those officers that you have protecting you at Maloof are not going to get injured or worse to save your sorry ass. Get ready to reap what you sow.
To the men and women of the Dekalb County Police and Fire - SHOW SOME GRIT FOR ONCE! Stop bending over and allowing them to stick up your backside. Tell the dirty politicians they have gone too far. Stop trying to please them by writing tickets. Stop doing anything extra! Let them see what happens when they lose the support of the Police and Fire. Stop acting like good little slaves! If you haven’t got the guts to prove you’re worth better treatment you will never be treated fairly! Refuse to work overtime unless you are guaranteed time and a half for it. Stop working extra hours or responding when they call you out unless they pay the gas. Stop giving the county all the extra money all the tickets give them. Let them see what happens if you lose the Police. Let them see what falls apart when fire isn’t so quick to respond. When EMT personnel refuse to hurt just to control fighting drunks. Let them handle it if they want. They think they can get you to do it for nothing now!
Oh for God's own sake, man up. You have a job. Do it. People are hurting. People have no jobs, have lost their houses, live with relatives.
There is no money for the perks you were promised. Tough. Quit or do your job. The whining on here is embarrassing.
It looks like the CEO stepped up and said the right thing at the commission meeting today. He said he would take the same pay cut as the rest of the county employees and he urged the commissioners to do the same. He also urged the commission to approve a small tax increase, which I believe was reasonable, so that some of the drastic cuts would not be necessary. The commissioners refused. If we are going to criticize Ellis when he is wrong, we also need to applaud him when it appears he has done the right thing.
As for the county commissioners, it looks like they expect a top notch police department but they just do not want to pay for it. They want to dine in the finest restaurant in Atlanta with amazing food and excellent service, but they want to pay Waffle House prices. We will see how that works out for them.
Sorry son, Daddy has to go work a part-time job to keep the lights on. Maybe you can play little league next year.
Say goodbye to everyone with less than ten years of service. You can keep all the TeeBo hires and have fun with them. You told me when I was hired that DeKalb takes care of its officers. You Lied to the people of DeKalb and the officers. No wonder people leave. Hey Dunwoody and Sandy Springs do you need some good officers. I want to know what you are going to do when you need a K9 unit or Air Unit to respond after hours. Oh Im sorry they dont have a car anymore to respond so bad guys get away and you can thank the BOC you elected.
So does this mean that we will have 7 "reduced pay" checks this year like we had last Thanksgiving? The commissioners must be so proud, they didn't reduce to public safety services to the public and they didn't raise taxes. They come out looking like a million bucks, while we shoulder the burden.
With that attitude, you both need to go! You are no better than the perps we arrest! Regardless of the politics or inadequate supervision, we are still Officers. This too shall pass..despite the drama and issues. True officers, keep your head up. I rather work with two real officers than 10 people who just need a job..maybe all this is happening to thin out the weak and pitiful because we do have some of that here in Dekalb who impersonate DKPD. I will do my job and keep my honor. As for you two..Mcdonalds and Quik Trip are hiring and I hear they have great incentives!
Hello to you guys & gals...Amanda Aycock here. I read this blog because this is about the only blog I know of that has retiree info on it (of which I am singularly interested). AND - I'm very grateful to you for never having posted any negative info about me on this blog - although I kinda sorta have a thick skin (maybe). Anyway - can anyone either confirm or dispel the rumor that the County officials (Mike Bell) have gone to our pension board and asked the pension board to loan OUR/YOUR pension money in order to fund the County budget shortfall? I figure we have some really good detectives that can get the straight poop on this and let us know if this is just a rumor or a reality. If need be - I'll show up at a commissioner meeting with a walker and a grocery cart full of household belongings...take care, Amanda
Ticket slow down, it will hurt this time, every penny matters. Point of diminishing returns commissioners.
Over the past few weeks, I have encouraged employees unite against the budget proposals concerning furloughs and holiday pay. Employees were encouraged to write all the commissioners and attend the BOC meetings. Some officers participated however, most did not. I applaud those individuals who got up to speak against the budget whether personally or on behalf of the employees. It's not easy to speak to a large gathering. I appreciate those officers who attended the meeting to show their support. Their numbers were few but at least they were there. I did see many of the Chiefs present for several meetings. Although they were unable to speak while on duty, they did encourage officers to speak freely about their opposition to the budget. I also heard them thank the people that supported the officers in the budget hearings. I expect that a lot of people will utilize this blog to complain about the new budget. But if they didn't protest by mail, email or in person to the commissioners. They dont really have a right to complain.
There will be another budget meeting in June to see if all these cuts are necessary. I encourage everyone to make their complaints known regularly to the commissioners between now and then.
If you're young and have just a few years and came in under the lower pension, you should be filling out applications with the Feds. They have a good pension and excellent benefits.
Take the experience you got here in Dekalb and get paid for it.
Trust what this senior officer is telling you... Jump to the Feds.
When I think back to the old days 5% raises each year for I think seven years no cars approaching 100,000 miles and a hiearchy that knew the reputation of DKPD emanated from the uniform division and not from some "special" unit. Glad to be retired and long gone. As that great American and at the time Dekalb Officer D Mcgregor said "God help Us" Good luck and may god help Y'all.
Haargh mates! Face it you are screwed! For the last decade and a half you have been getting screwed by the BOC with the Price/Waterhouse salary study, the no-pay for performance plan, no cost of living increase, the county has passed popular expensive bond issue after bond issue with no tax increases because the BOC defers our raises another year to fund paying off the bond issues. Everyone is happy with this arrangement except the employees, and as the BOC arrogantly state time to time, "Be happy to have a job, you can always go somewhere else!" or "we will continue to attract quality employees with the new and downsized pension plan"
Of course during this same time frame the commissioners receive a 100 percent pay raise and the CEO a 50 percenter making him the highest paid local metro Atlanta politician.
I am hearing that Ellis is telling the commissioners that county pay is so low employees cannot afford the cuts. That's nice but the commissioners don't care, its easy to continue to derive revenue from the employees as they have learned over the decades. The employee's never bitch about it so let's continue what always works.
I saw this coming from before last year but I thought the commissioners would most likely furlough and offer the early out retirement option. I did not foresee just how much the BOC despises the county rank n' file employees. You have to understand the context of the unpaid holiday compared to furlough days. A furlough day is a unpaid day of leave from the job, you don't work it so you don't get paid. The eight unpaid holidays is a cut in pay and you still work the same days and hours.
No other local government in our great nation is implementing such a radical approach, they have done pay cuts, they have done 1 and 2 day unpaid holidays but no eight unpaid holidays like DeKalb is enacting. As usual the BOC cannot even communicate to the employees their intent and how it will adversley effect our pay. There is no respect, no effort to show appreciation to the employees for our financial loss even when every one of the bastards intended to continue to receive full pay whilst employees took the hit.
As for Ellis, I appreciate you standing up for us, but your actions of moving your offices at great expense, increasing your staff and their pay, and asking for an office budget increase in the midst of recession whilst cutting everyone budgets does not strike me as committed to a "lean and mean" government. I recommend a grand jury to investigate possible savings and restructuring of the county government.
Don't be so sure all white shirts will demand the same amount of tickets. They will feel the same effects of the budget. I can imagine some turning a blind eye to the reduction in citations and the increase in warnings.
STOP ISSUING CITATIONS, OR YOU WILL BE ORDERED TO.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO TURN CITATIONS IN THEN YOU WILL BE CALLED OUT BY YOUR PEERS, AND THEY WILL KNOW YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM AND NOT THE SOULUTION.
Amanda, my understanding is that the pension fund will be used to pay for the pension incentives, including the extra leave payout plus the pension. Nothing about loans at present but that is a distinct possibility. I advise all pensioners to keep a close eye on the pension board and meetings. Contracts are great but nothing is better then eye-balling the issue.
PS. How was NZ? Send your better half camping with us, I promise, we will return him safe and sound!
I second the advice to move on to the Federal level. Take the training and experiences you had and leave before you are burnt out and waiting for the early retirement letter to come.
OMG!!!! is it me or does Connie Stokes talk to much?
any word on the reserve unit? I'm taken this retirement,this is madness.
it looks like we need some really good grant writers in the department now
As another veteran officer whose been here too long but not long enough, I want to echo the words of the other veteran officer; to those who have been here long enough (at least 2 yrs) but not too long (less than 10)....it is in your best interest to jump ship to the Feds if you have a degree. If you don't have a degree, you can still get your foot in the door via the Border Patrol. Once in, you can lateral anywhere. Or you should go to another police department in a thriving jurisdiction (Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Milton, Johns Creek, Roswell, Alpharetta, for example). No matter whether it is here in this state or elsewhere.
Another example, you should look to Florida. They love their law enforcement all over the place down there with good or better pay than they do here and they offer better benefits statewide. And I hear the pension is transferable from one agency to another within the state. But, a word of caution. Stay away from Tennessee. I hear that state also has a state pension plan that is worse than your 62.5 or 67.5% here.
Not long ago, I gave this advice to a new DeKalb officer who was not happy. He listened and is now very happy because of it.
The majority that gets on here and complaint, like to boost I don't live in DeKalb County. Which means you can't vote and have very little chance of generating any changes.
You really should be quiet, get your check and support the local government in which you proudly reside. You need to pray that one day the officers in your community doesn't develop your lame ass attitude. By the way you did take an oath or were your lips just quivering. Some of you sound like cowards!
So go ahead use this media to continue showing your ignorant but meanwhile pull out your dusty employee manual, peel to page 26, 2-2, read 20-191-32. Trust me, the white shirts aren't hurting as much, they'll get pressure from the chief who will get it from the director. Some of you folk don't have a clue!
As someone who did leave, let me say that while I miss the action and some of the people I worked with, I never miss the BS, or the drama. Get out, go somewhere squared away, and do your job with pride. Above All, Stay safe guys
OK listen up guys n gals....I've looked long and hard thru the policy and found no where that it states that there is a ticket quota. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going out and doing the job we were hired to do and that is trying to make this county a safer and better place to live and work. You can still do that job by doing proactive policing and traffic enforcement...it's just do it with a warning....tell Joe Public that he needs to slow down and be safe ...nothing wrong with that and document the stop with a warning citation. No one can accuse you of being slack and not performing your duties...it's officers discretion guys...sometimes the bad guys needs nothing more than a little verbal judo to get his life back on track....don't kick a man when he's down....serve and protect can all be done without hurting that citizen in the pocket book....Learn to be a friend.....All we have to do is stick together and think smarter...police better and treat people the way you would want them to treat your mom....and along the way you'll feel better about it knowing not only that you've done your job right but you've done it with dignity....Who's with me here....Let's Do It!!!.... I can do this job and back up everything I've done during my shift without having to put money in the commissioners pockets....If we do it smart then there is nothing they can do to stop us...Just document your calls and that's it. No one is asking you to sit on your a$$ and do nothing....but if you happen to stop that young fellow for a traffic violation then explain the dangers of his actions and send him on his way with a nice long copy warning....
I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now!!!...can't wait to start my next tour of duty...see you guys on the streets!!
absolutely...do just like the perps do....follow the money.. dekalb has no money. when we were all hired we were promised a 5% merit increase each year if you did a good job all year. well i did a good last year and this year. but im not getting anything. and for you few positive people on here (aka supervisors or citizens / future victims)try living on what i make and i dont live beyond my means or have credit cards. I THINK THE THIN BLUE LINE JUST HAS BROKEN. im done. i get paid like an average job and thats all this place is anymore. ill clock in and out, but thats it. sorry you were a victim but heres a case number. can someone please volunteer lt. manikowski as the officers liason ... i love his speeches to the troops. like.....IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT HERE THEN JUST QUIT. lets take it from a veteran supervisor and do it...
Come on, (esp. to the blogger complaining about whining) this site is supposed to be a place to safely vent - let them do it. I know that most of you are doing what you do because you care, and you won't put anyone seriously at risk. I know you'll do the right thing in the end. Doesn't mean you'll be any happier about this situation though. It more than sucks.
As for my part, can't do much, but I certainly will make sure my vote is cast against any incumbent, and will campaign everyone I know to do the same. They have not only failed you, but failed the citizens as well. There MUST be a better way, than to put public safety on the chopping block (has Sheila Edwards been fired yet??)
Burrell Ellis and Commissioners, enjoy it while it lasts because I have already started on getting you ALL gone.
Keep your eye on the end game - get the experience, keep your personnel records clean, do your best to keep your spirit and head clear, and you will be led to a better place.
Thank you for doing what you do.
(Ethel - go to the gym baby (smackdowns hurt too much), and I'll work on getting together a dating website for Wendy Salzman)
To Anon who advises Police to man up!! Do you put a vest,belt,gun on everyday?Do you tell your significant other I love you, when you walk out the door,not knowing if you will make it home at the end of a LONG day? If you do none of the above I suggest you SHUT UP!!We as employees of DeKalb county just got thrown under the bus. We come to work everyday to protect you and yours and you have the nerve,the audacity to tell us to "man up"!!! Reality check my ignorant poster. You "man up", you come do what I do for 10 plus hours,running from call to call on domestic,armed robberies,stabbings,shootings,5 plus car accidents w/ persons trapped then you will feel how we feel. Until you get your hard earned money taken from you keep your mouth shut.
I can't believe I'm saying this but it looks like PatsQB may have made a good decision when he went to JC...
No one in DeKalb Government will admit this, but the reason we are in this horrible mess is the over-expansion of local government functions requiring a lot of employees to handle the "feel-good" projects, the horse farms, the aqua and skate-board parks, libraries on every corner, the cradle to grave socialism that provides everything from Grady to the Lou Walker senior center. All provided at no cost as long as you are documented as below poverty level. You don't even have to be a citizen to access these functions as DeKalb is a proud "Sanctuary city". I have real issues with those claiming food stamps and driving fracken' BMW's.
The times are bad and people have lost their jobs, yes I understand, but has nothing to do with this topic. Dekalb Police have lost out on raises when the economy was good, have had reduced merit increases when the economy was good, and the cost of benefits had gone up when the economy was good. The county has it using this as another excuse to reduce our compensation package, they did it in good times and now in a down market, the common thread is DKPD and other employees get the shaft. Do the job to protect life and property, but that is it...... nothing more.....Tickets? don't think so. Quick response to BS calls...don't think so.
I'm pissed also that they took our pay and possibly take home cars. But lets face it, do you really think they care? We are nothing more than a warm body, no matter if you're a go getter or not. There are many more folks out here willing to take your job. This ticket slow down, do you really think that will change things? Its going to do nothing but continue this same ol being broke crap. Write the tickets, bring in some revenue. Again, the PD is going to have to bail these moronic commisoners out of the red. Morale is down everywhere, but if revenue doesn't start coming in, then this is going to continue into 2011.
Don't get me wrong, I hate having my pay taken. I took this government job knowing I will never be rich and it was supposed to be job security. Well guess what, its not anymore. We can continue bitching about this forever, but its not going to change until we get conservative spenders as leaders. In the meantime, we must suck it up or its going to be a long time until this place ever changes.
Property taxes are the mainstay of local government revenue. Funds generated from tickets will have more impact on a municipality, not a County the size of DeKalb. There are other sources of government income, including excise taxes, motor fuel taxes, business taxes, inheritance taxes, capital gains taxes, license fees, user fees, lotteries, sale of utilities, sales and use tax. The economic crunch and the foreclosure and housing collapse has rendered DeKalb unable to receive the level of revenue needed from real estate taxes.
LoFlyer hit on something very important, as it relates to the services the County provides. The rub is this, the County needs to offer those kinds of things so that people will want to move here, start a business, shop here, and the county has to compete with other jurisdictions. But they equity and political feasibility (How much they can afford to pay for services vs. how much they are willing to pay for services) was never fully explored.
We all know that people dont want to live or invest where they don't feel safe. That is why public safety is the peoples' priority. The public safety departments (police AND fire) need to be fully funded and aggressive efforts towards retaining officers through incentives and increases should have been honored. If you do that, you attract better candidates, and you show the ones you have that you value their work. You let the police make a dent in some of the blighted areas, and allow them to make their presence known by having them fully staffed. You pay for the cars, and provide the best equipment. You will see the peoples confidence rise, and they will begin to re-invest in the County. re-investment in the county means more home ownership, investors who buy and fix property to rent; resulting in more revenue generated though real estate taxes.
Everyone is so scared to say no. but NO, we cant afford all of these special programs. We cant afford to maintain the same levels of service (trash pick ups, etc...) we have to cut back,and we have to get back on track by letting the police clean up the areas that are bringing the entire county down.
Where is the politician that will stand up to the people and tell them NO?
I'd run for office myself but that would require me to move to DeKalb.
I heard that the county is borrowing the money from the pension fund to pay the early retirement and payouts.
PatQB heart is still with DeKalb I bet.
Lee May states: "Things have to change, we are running this county like it's the 80's"
Mr. May, you may not be old enough to remember how the 80's were run here in DeKalb, but I do! As a Vet. that has been here for over 28 years. I can tell you that you are absolutely 100% wrong! That's exactly how the County should do business today! Less Political Fluff and Red Tape! Let us do what we were hired to do and move on!
Good Lord, we must get 10 emails a day from the CEO's Office telling us all the good and wonderful things their doing up there... Here's a clue: Who gives a Fat Rat's Ass... I'm sure it's a full time job for someone up there to fabricate all this crap. As just one example, we never saw this BS back in the 80's much less the 90's. Why! It wasn't important! Didn't need to tell the world about the Programs, Town Hall meetings and of course, the fine job I am doing! We just did it without the need for Praise. End of Story.
Can we Spam Block these emails?!
If you want to see who manages your pension Board, look at the Chairman, Ed Wall. Vernon crony who made millions in commissions doing the bond work for the Jones administration. Ever wonder how unemployed Vernon still has the $ to run for office? The pension that you have to retire on is entrusted to Ed "Stall" Wall.
Where did the nickname come from? This is the same Ed Wall who was arrested by APD at Hartsfield 3 years ago in the men's room having sex with another man who flew in from Indiana for the occasion.
When you folks figuratively say about your jobs and pensions, "bend over", this is a guy who knows exactly what you are talking about.
Go ahead at look at the State Ethics Commission page that tracks donations and see how many donations that Ed has made to CEO and BOC candidates. This is the guy that has your retirements in his hands>
DeKalb County citizens, as an employee let me put this into some perspective for you. My position, as a police officer, may require me to work on a holiday or several holidays throughout the year based on the rotation of the schedule. Yet, we do not get paid double-time as is typical when hourly employees are required to work on a holiday. So, if I work on a holiday, it gets "banked" as we say for later discretionary use. At the regular pay rate, not at a double-time pay rate.
Now, I along with most other public safety personnel who may have to work on a holiday will not get to enjoy the holiday at that time, pay notwithstanding, or later. I'm sorry, but this really sucks.
So, the Board of Commissioners flat refused to implement the CEO's recommendation for a slight tax increase of 1.08 mils or so that he AJC stated would cost the average homeowner $35.00 annually. Well, I have lost 7 paid holidays to the tune of $1,715.00 of paid benefit at my pay rate. For other officers, it will be more or less the same.
I tell you this really pisses me off. For the past 10 years, the citizens have voted elected officials in office who apparently don't give a damn about YOUR public safety. I am but one. I used to be a DeKalb resident, born and raised. In my opinion, DeKalb once was a great county to live, work, play, and go to school in. I no longer agree. At least I moved out.
So, should I continue to write a lot of tickets per recent years standard operating procedure? Or should I write a bunch of long copy warnings as some officers have suggested to keep money out of the BOC's pockets as they say? I know this much, no matter how many I or officers may write, I don't get paid any more. It certainly is not commission based.
I can assure you of this. It is within my core being to serve and protect you all. I cannot and will not consciously choose not to. But, will I find myself socking-it-to-you with a no tolerance approach with any and all violations by issuing you citations? Or will I just not give-a-damn anymore since I have been beat down so badly over the years. Honestly, I am torn and I don't know which way I will lean on this one. I have a bad taste in my mouth because when times in DeKalb were good, the BOC found ways to take more and more away from us as another blogger mentioned. Now times are tough, and they are really throwing us under the bus. I can't help but ponder these thoughts when the economy rebounds. Will DeKalb citizens and your BOC, your elected officials, ever make it up to us? Based on their track record, do you blame me for not holding my breath?
Bottom line, I am super disgusted with DeKalb right now and have been really disgusted for several years. And with clowns like Edwards, Bolton, Vernon, etc. to name a few getting caught by the media making a mockery out of DeKalb, can you blame me? I have my pride as an officer; not as a DeKalb County police officer.
If the police department loses as many officers as has been speculated due to early retirement or leaving for other departments then the ones left will not have time to do traffic stops and write citations as they will be running from call to call trying to do the same amount of work with less resources. The revenue will go down as a result of that and not due to a planned ticket writing slow down.
I heard that they had planned a 3% rise in ticket revenue into the budget - how is that going to happen if you have 10% or more fewer officers?
Not a police officer just a concerned citizen. You guys are doing a great job under miserable circumstances.
As the wife of a good officer who has been overseas, I can see why he doesn't want to go back to Dekalb. To me, it seems like the few who post about manning up or about being lucky they have a job, are the commissioners themselves. Just like the federal government but a smaller scale. It's disgusting.
I say we go on a ticket strike strike strike strike. This is bull coming in roll call pulling our stats saying we need to do more well no more. Pay us more we want our money
10-60 breaks all day
To my friends at Dekalb PD: you're majorly getting screwed. They tried this experiment once, it's called Atlanta Police! Perhaps you should remind the commissioners that the biggest source of Sandy Springs and Alpharetta PD academy recruits comes from Atlanta Police!
As someone who used to work for an unarguably more dysfucntional public safety organization in Atlanta (Grady EMS),
I am sad for you...In light of the recession, Grady is now hiring new graduate paramedics at $20.17/hr, $4k sign-on bonus. That's probably ridiculously more than the change they are throwing at you, and you're pissed, rightfully so! Grady is broke, runs millions of dollars in the deficit, but somehow, its governing bodies have their cojones together, if you would make a quick comparison of the calibre of Grady medics vs. AMR, Dekalb Fire, etc.
So, to wrap up this message, it can be done. You're pissed. And you should be. Do you want to start shooting like Atlanta PD?
Nicole the Former Grady Ambulance Driver.
I am not an officer, but my thought is that if the citizens don't want to pay an extra $35 to fund your salaries, so that you take a $1700 pay cut then you should NOT give warnings. You should hit the citizens with tickets to share the pain.
Lets not stop with speeding tickets, lets cite people for all violations such as failing to use signals, following too closely, illegals turns, improper standing/parking, etc.
Maybe if they receive a $150 ticket, they'd wish they had voted for commissioners who would've raised their taxes $35. Don't worry about generating additional money for the Commissioners. The County probably isn't going to collect that money anyway with over $100 million being overlooked at the Recorder's Court! (or did it get funnelled to Ed Wall and then back to Vernon?)
Hmm. Hadn't thought of it like that. That being a citizen not wanting to pay a $35 annual tax increase for my $1,700+ pay cut. I think the other citizen has a point.
But, oh, "I am [still] torn" on this one. It takes motivation to want to make a difference to do traffic stops and issue citations. I'm not feeling motivated at all. Sorry.
Burgundy...do as I have done put that noisy thing back in the drawer and leave it there!
Post a Comment