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adampayne - > Jammin' With The Banned -> County Layoffs, did the light just get turned on?
County Layoffs, did the light just get turned on?

Could not help but notice the comments in the "County authorizes layoffs" article found in today's local paper. Here's a choice one from Jim Fitch:

"These are real people. These are real lives," he said of the employees. "It hurts. I stay up at night thinking about what's going to take place."

This comment comes from the painful reality that nine positions were "deleted" from the Assessor's department, which resulted in six layoffs.

Jim, where have you been for the past two years? Did you think all those small business closings and major layoffs at shuttered department stores, real estate offices, title companies, car dealers, home builders, newspapers, television stations and oil fields somehow were about robots being retired? All the people in all those areas were "real people" with "real lives" too. 

Jim had another great line while pleading with the BOS about sparing his department from suffering a loss of manpower:

"I don't like to think I'm a revenue generator," Fitch told the board. "But I am."

I hate to burst your bubble, Jim, but you and your department are not revenue generators, and to boldly state before the public that you think you are shows not only ignorance of the highest order, but also an arrogance that defies description given our market situation.

Jim, your salary, and your department's budget, exist solely due to the revenue the tax base here in the area provides. When all those houses lose all that value due to exceptionally poor planning with the resulting glut of homes in this vicinity sinking to levels not seen in more than twenty years, and all those businesses close or shrink to the point where the tax money they now produce is a small fraction of what was formerly available there is very little revenue produced. And you and your department are not the engine driving the money car into the Kern County garage.

Based on your comments to the Supervisors, the wrong people did get cut. You and your boss should have been the first to go. And in my humble opinion every other department head should also be eliminated first before the grunts have to suffer the axe. 

 

Posted in the Business & Finance interest group.
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posted by adampayne on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 08:24 AM
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posted by blognroll on Jun 10, 2009 at 10:29 AM

The more you lay people off and cut their wages, the less money goes into the economy which creates another inane argument for cutting more jobs and laying more people off.  We've got to get more creative about how to generate profit instead of taking away people's other means of supporting the battered economy. 

posted by donmason on Jun 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM

I completely agree Adam.

 

The most important quality in a business manager is foresight. Unless this quality is present, first and foremost, there’s no reason for the position.

 

Yes, he should be fired and replaced. At the very least, a 50% pay cut that represents his true worth and competency to the taxpayer.

 

The other paradox here is the public sector always tries to rationalize pay and benefits by crying for “parity” with the private sector.

 

Now that aggregate private sector compensation is down 20% from pay cuts, lay offs, benefit cuts, and reduced hours, I’m still waiting for 20% pay and benefit cuts across the board to maintain the precious “parity” with the private sector.

 

Start with top management, and work down until the budget is balanced. That should spare the grunts.

posted by CatherineBaker on Jun 10, 2009 at 10:40 AM

I thought the same thing, Adam, when I read that.  In fact, my mom and I were just on the phone talking about it.  Fritch's "MY office is too important to cut!"  was laughable.  Yeah, Fritch, only YOU and YOUR dept are what's important here.  Geez.  "But MY office generates revenue!  Uh, you want specifics?  Uh...I'll have to get back to you on that...."  LOL!

I also found it irritating that the Board of Supervisors' promises to cut their own staffs and their own pay were SORTA kept.  Not by Rubio (YET, he swears) and really, not by McQuiston, either, who is taking a FURLOUGH day, instead of a paycut.  Well la-di-da, McQuiston, but a furlough (a day off without pay) IS NOT the same thing as a paycut (which is working THE SAME amount of hours, just for LESS money.)  

Here's where you can stick your furlough, McQuiston!  And have you taken your pay cut YET, Rubio? 

posted by donmason on Jun 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM

The more you lay people off and cut their wages, the less money goes into the economy which creates another inane argument for cutting more jobs and laying more people off.  We've got to get more creative about how to generate profit instead of taking away people's other means of supporting the battered economy. 

 

This is true only for the private sector. In the absence of debt financing for government services, (which is highly responsible for much of the problem), laying off government workers has no long term net effect on consumer purchasing power, since the tax savings accrued is spent by the consumer. Gross profit generated by the private sector

is the source of net tax revenue. Government services are an overhead expense,not a profit maker.

posted by sagefever on Jun 10, 2009 at 11:24 AM

Good post adam~ as always. Deparment heads could be cut,and the real work done by the staff.

 

 

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