Bain-Blog

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Election 2007 coverage

The Oshkosh Northwestern today unveiled their election 2007 website. Candidates were asked to respond to 10 questions and provide a 300 word or less candidate statement. We also were informed that responses and statements would be printed verbatim.

A direct link to my responses and statement are provided for your convenience. You also may visit my website for additional information about my re-election campaign.

As always, I welcome your feedback and responses.

-Bryan

posted by Bryan L. Bain at 1/27/2007 11:49:00 AM

9 Comments:

  • Open Letter to all Oshkosh Common Council candidates and Mayoral candidates:

    One topic that has been discussed at length on many blogs is the current state of compensation for city labor.

    Most city employees are represented by one of many unions. The council has approved the labor contract with the Oshkosh Police Supervisor’s Association. Several other union contracts are yet to be voted on:
    -Oshkosh Professional Police Officers Association.
    -Oshkosh Fire Department Chief Officers.
    -Oshkosh Clerical,Paraprofessional Union Local 796-B, AFL-CIO
    -Oshkosh City Employee Union Local 796, AFSCME, AFL-CIO
    …just to name a few.

    Negotiations with these unions occur only every 2-3 years on a cycle. Most of the negotiations are held in executive session and none are broadcast so we the taxpayers can see what takes place.

    Our city budget for the 2007 calendar year is about $60,000,000.00. Of that sum, we see the city administration justify about 13% of it during the workshop sessions. That 13% equates to about $7,800,000.00. That $7,800,000.00 covers every operational expense other than labor costs, to run our entire city for an entire year.

    The remaining portion of the $60,000,000.00 budget is set aside to fund wages and benefits to all city employees…union and non-union. 87% of the entire budget covers wages and benefits. That 87% equates to about $52,000,000.00.

    Of the $52,000,000.00 set aside for labor compensation, $6,000,000.00 is earmarked to cover healthcare costs for our employees. The city taxpayers fund about $10,000.00 per employee to cover just healthcare costs. Taxpayers fund 95-97% while the city employee contributes 3-5%.

    Please review and provide your input in these questions:


    Background A-
    We often hear the City Manager complain that the State mandated levy freeze hurts our city. We rarely hear him mention that the State mandated labor arbitration laws and quid pro quo laws also hurt our city. These laws were enacted, as critical public safety positions such as police, fire, water treatment etc are unable to conduct a labor negotiation strike. Arbitration and quid-pro-quo were offered in lieu of the ability to conduct a strike…however the result is the law stops us from truly negotiating with the union, as arbitrators will ultimately make the final compensation decision.

    Question #1
    What is your opinion on the quid-pro-quo and arbitration laws?

    Question #2
    Do you feel all represented employees deserve protection under these laws, or should they be reserved for specifically Public Safety and Municipal Critical positions? (ie: Police and Fire vs. Parks and City Hall Clerks)

    Question #3
    The laws as currently structured clearly stop us from truly negotiating with the unions, the laws are slanted to favor unions and punish municipalities. What do you intend to do, to level the playing field for the negotiation process?


    Background B –
    Healthcare costs are spiraling out-of-control. About $6,000,000.00 is spent each year on employee healthcare. Taxpayers fund 95-97% while the city employee contributes 3-5%.

    Question #1
    It is reported that the average private sector per person cost for healthcare is about $5,000.00 - $6,000.00. The city spends about $10,000.00. What do you intend to do to significantly lower healthcare costs?

    Question #2
    It is reported that the average in the private sector is an 80/20 split. Employers pay 80% and employees contribute the remaining 20% of healthcare costs. Our city employee ratio is more like 95/5. What do you intend to do to bring the employees contribution more in-line with the private sector? What percentage ratio split, city/employee do you feel is a reasonable goal to work towards?


    Background C-
    As everyone knows, many public meetings are held to discuss the City operating budget. Line items are reviewed. Department Managers are asked to make justifications and a great deal of emphasis is placed on trying to insure each dollar is spent wisely. However, we rarely ever hear open discussion about the biggest expense the city has…wage and benefit compensation costs associated with labor.

    Question #1
    Assuming there are laws around disclosure of information during negotiations, what do you intend to do to make the next contract negotiation process more open and transparent for the taxpayers?

    Question #2
    As labor costs are clearly by far the largest expense our city incurs, it would seem far more effort be placed on labor costs than operational costs. What do you intend to do to insure the city administration places more efforts in these areas?


    Taxpayers want to maintain our quality of life in Oshkosh. By restructuring labor costs, many more quality of life projects could occur with no added tax increases for Oshkosh taxpayers…and city employees would still maintain a very fair and equitable compensation package.

    In closing, Oshkosh taxpayers and voters will support candidates that have the best interest of the taxpayer as their top priority. We want Council members that are focused as much on controlling run-away labor costs as they are focused on downtown or river front issues.

    Thank you for your consideration.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 29, 2007 10:07 AM  

  • This is one of several questions posed to Mayoral and Council candidates by the Oshkosh Northwestern. The Candidates responses are listed below.
    More questions and answers can be found at:
    http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=OSHelection

    QUESTION:
    If the state continues some kind of local levy limit, what should be looked at in the city's budget if cuts need to be made? Is there so-called "fat" in the budget that can be cut or does the budget need to be looked at in a new way?

    Mayoral Candidates (In alphabetical order)

    Esslinger
    I’ve proposed for several years that a top to bottom audit of the City departments should be done. I believe that if this study is done, the people doing the study will find “fat” in the budget. It may be that we have too many people in some departments; it may be that we are not running our departments efficiently enough; or it may be that we are spending money on items that we don’t need.

    In this last budget I found over $140,000 that could be removed from our operational budget but I couldn’t get enough support from the Council to have it removed. We could have paid for this study with that money. Council Member McHugh also pointed out areas that he felt could be more efficient, but we couldn’t get enough support to save money in these areas.

    We need to look at our overtime budgets. In many cases we spend too much money that is unjustified in overtime. This costs the taxpayers a large amount of money.

    We also need to re-evaluate the criteria of how/why/when we sell surplus City property. I believe we are not getting the most money for surplus items when they are sold.

    There is “fat” in this budget!


    Tower
    The council and city manager should always be willing to look at the budget in new and different ways. Tax increases are unacceptable and there is continued demand to improve the quality of life for everyone in Oshkosh. The council must work with the manager on greater efficiencies and reach within and outside the community for truly innovative ways to constantly challenge how city services are paid for and delivered.




    Council Candidates (In alphabetical order)

    Bain
    I have no doubt that the state will continue some kind of local levy limits, therefore, we must look at the budget in new ways. We cannot continue to simply budget year to year, making only the cuts or changes necessary to put us under the limits placed by the state. Long-range budget planning is what the city needs to do, and is something I have called for as a council member.

    When discussing the budget, anything and everything should be on the table. I have said before and will reiterate again, just because certain topics, cuts, changes, etc., are discussed does not mean it will happen. The council must have open dialogue about all aspects of the budget in order to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money.

    I support zero-based budgeting, forming a budget committee comprised of staff and council, long-range budget planning and growing the tax base as ideas to dealing with the budget.


    Cornell
    With 87% of the budget consigned to wages and benefits, how much cutting can take place to essential services? A city provides nothing but services and to cut taxes results in cutting services which is not popular with the public. One way to help the budget would be to examine the health care providers to provide good health care insurance at a lower cost. The budget needs to be looked at as it has the past 2 years which has resulted in significant improvement over previous budgets.


    King
    I do not believe there is any fat in the city budget. Rising costs are a factor that every household and business must address. I believe the Common Council must inform its citizens of our options, and allow for citizen comment. The Common Council must creatively look at the role endowments and public/private partnerships play in our community’s future. Further the citizens must be informed on the impact State and Federal Legislators have on local control.


    Monte
    The start would be to audit the city and see if it really is running as efficiently as it should be. If an audit is not performed, it would be wise to do zero based budgeting for 1 or 2 years in order to know where the money is being spent. After that, a performance based budget would be a good method to control spending in every department. Using incentives to keep the spending down would lessen the crunch that we are feeling with the current limitations.


    Nielsen
    The city needs to provide the basic services of roads and public service. Once you have provided those then look at duplications, sharing of resource, combining of services which is a nice way of looking at the budget a different way then we have in the past.


    Palmeri
    The Democrats now control the governor’s office and the state Senate. Every Democrat elected in November including the governor said that they are either against local levy limits or for allowing levies to grow by more than 2%. City Councils across the state, including ours in Oshkosh, need to hold them to their word.

    To handle budget cut and “fat trimming” issues, the Council needs to create a formal Budget Committee that would include citizens, members of the council, and members of the city administration. The Budget Committee would meet continuously throughout the year, and charged especially with looking at the budget in new ways.


    Scheuermann
    The city council has done a good job at cutting over a million dollars out of the operational budget for 2007. I feel very strongly that there is not the “fat” in the budget that everyone thinks. Additionally, I am in support of the productivity survey that will be done in 2007 to support this statement. Of course, there are always efficiencies that we continue to work towards.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 29, 2007 12:15 PM  

  • Interesting article in the Letters to the editor section of the Oshkosh Northwestern today.

    “Oshkosh residents overtaxed, underserved”
    The letter goes on to say how the writer had lived in Waukesha and moved to Oshkosh. His home in Waukesha cost $77,000.00 more than his home in Oshkosh, yet his property taxes were exactly the same. He paid $10.00 per month for a privatized garbage pick-up by Waste Management, they provided the containers and never left them in disorder after the pick-up…AND more importantly, this private entity was able to maintain a profit while providing the service.

    Another article in the Northwestern yesterday listed many local communities that have NOT met the United Way fund raising goal they set for themselves…Oshkosh included. Some of the major reasons for this are the lack of confidence in the economy, residents that have been downsized do not have discretionary funds for donations, residents are currently unemployed, residents fear for there jobs.

    A segment on the national news last night stated the fate of the auto industry in America. The big 3 (GM, Ford, Chrysler) are all failing. They have tremendous legacy issues with healthcare and pensions for there current and past employees. Foreign automakers only face 10% of the healthcare costs US auto makers are burdened with.

    What does all this mean?

    Many in Oshkosh are not riding the tide of the often discussed “good economy”.
    Oshkosh taxpayers may be paying too much for city services.
    When others are doing poorly, Oshkosh city employees receive a wage increase as well as a 95% taxpayer healthcare program.

    Oshkosh residents can not continue to subsidize Oshkosh city employee’s healthcare AND provide wage and other benefit increases.

    Just as healthcare costs are draining our American auto industry, public sector union’s “platinum coverage” demands are draining the funds of taxpayers.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 30, 2007 12:37 PM  

  • January 30, 2007 12:37 PM

    Do you have any suggestions other than getting rid of the City employees? Health care is a NATIONAL issue. Teacher and public employee benefits have been hashed and rehashed, we need viable suggestions for a solution not more complaining! Stand up to the plate and offer some suggestions.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 31, 2007 10:15 AM  

  • "Do you have any suggestions other than getting rid of the City employees?"

    Make deeper concessions (heathcare, wages and benefits)or risk loosing jobs, just as in the auto industry.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 31, 2007 10:46 AM  

  • Great job last night Brian. I still think you should be the Mayor of Oshkosh!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 31, 2007 10:54 AM  

  • January 31, 2007 10:46 AM you suggest:
    Make deeper concessions(heathcare, wages and benefits) Good Luck!

    or risk loosing jobs--

    What does that solve? More people collecting unemployment benefits or BadgerCare only increases taxes and adds to the problems.

    HASH and Rehash just as I thought you offer no real answers.
    We can not balance any budget on the backs of the every people you want services from.
    We need to find ways to increase the jobs available and more important we need to have the jobs pay a "livable" wage. A livable wage in todays world is NOT $8 to $10.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 31, 2007 11:41 AM  

  • To 11:41...
    Read the Northwestern today.
    Editorial:
    "Unless taxes are raised - something Wisconsinites aren't too keen on - public worker job cuts that mar services and rob neighborhoods of quality jobs only get more common unless the pension issues are dealt with"

    Another letter to the editor by a UW-O Professor states:
    "It is time for city hall to apply lean methods."
    "It is time for city hall to learn Lean methods and start to eliminate waste, reduce costs, and gain better citizen appreciation".

    Two great examples of why we need to scale back city worker compensation and begin the city wide department audit.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 31, 2007 12:36 PM  

  • Why should public service employees be shielded from reality?
    Why do we provide them with ever increasing wages and benefits even when the local economy is on a decline?
    When great organization like the United Way are not meeting their donation goals all over the region, when plant layoffs continue, when only service oriented jobs ($8.00 per hour) are increasing, when family supporting jobs are declining, the only areas that seem to be off the radar screen are those in the public service (labor union) sectors.
    The taxpayers who have to cut back because they’ve been downsized and are now making only a fraction of what they had made simply do not have the extra funds to support continued increases in public sector wages and benefits. When it is discussed that public service employees have 95% of their healthcare paid by taxpayers, I find that obscene, especially when our State Government is indicating many of the citizens in our State do not even have any healthcare. Property tax payers are paying 95% of city employees healthcare and many don’t even have any healthcare for their own family!!!
    Something MUST change!!



    Optimism cools for local economy
    APPLETON — About half of the 200 businesses surveyed by the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce and Industry believe the local economy will improve this year.
    The chamber’s 2007 regional economic outlook released today found 46.5 percent of respondents believe that the economy will grow in comparison to 2006.

    In last year’s survey, 72.5 percent of respondents believed the economy would improve.

    About 57 percent of businesses noted that the local economy was in better condition than the nation as a whole.

    Last year’s mark was 67.5 percent.

    Jim Schlies, vice president of economic development for the chamber, said layoffs and plant closings around the Fox Cities likely factored into respondents’ answers.
    While the mood of area business owners may be less optimistic, many companies still are hiring.

    Forty-six percent of businesses surveyed said they expect to hire more workers this year.

    However, 50 percent of the 200 firms responding to the survey said they anticipate that the size of their work forces will remain the same.

    The survey was conducted during the second week of January. Other results:
    • Forty percent of firms expect a 3 percent increase in employee pay. Twenty-seven percent predict salary increases of 4 percent or more; 26.5 percent anticipate raises of 2 percent or less.
    • Optimism was fairly strong, as 74.5 percent expect a sales volume increase and 65.5 percent predict a growth in net profits.
    • Forty-two percent predict stabilization in the Fox Cities economy and 23 percent expect a decline.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 31, 2007 12:48 PM  

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