Augusta County budget is squeezed
By Lynn R. Mitchell | Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 | Catch-AllThe financially challenging times continue for local governments and Augusta County is no exception. One of the more glaring aspects of that is the fact there are no raises for county employees for the third year in a row.
Monday’s budget session ran from 8 am until 2 pm with an hour break for lunch as supervisors and county staff worked to iron out wrinkles before presenting the budget at the public hearing on April 20th.
Bob Stuart with the Waynesboro News Virginian has a good recap of what happened in the meeting and where the money is going.
Residents of Augusta County should be interested in the April 20th public hearing which offers the opportunity to speak directly to supervisors about budgetary concerns over the next year. The meeting will be at 7:00 pm in the supervisor meeting room at the Government Center in Verona.
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About the author
As SWAC Girl (an acronym for Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County), Lynn has been writing in the Virginia political blogosphere since 2006. Active in area politics, she has coordinated campaigns and served in leadership for the past decade. The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is one of the most beautiful places to call home ... the Republican Party carries her beliefs.
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12 Responses to "Augusta County budget is squeezed"
Lynn,
There is a good reason why county employees are getting no raises for the third year in a row–because the cost of living has declined for the third year in a row! If raises in boom years were lower than the cost of living increase, do you suppose that the county employees would be complaining loudly? But, somehow, when the cost of living goes down, county employees still expect a pay raise? What kind of Orwellian logic is that?
Raises in Social Security and military retirement are pegged to the COLA index. Seniors, surviving widows, and military retirees have gotten no raise for three years now. Why are county employees more deserving? Tell them that if this is so unfair, then are are more than welcomed to quit and seek employment in the private sector. Good luck with that, esp. in Augusta County.
Perhaps Augusta County should elect a few people like Scott Walker who would be willing to tell the county employees where to get off. People in the private sector are glad to have a job and don’t expect raises in a recession and recovery; many have taken pay cuts to help preserve their jobs. And county workers not getting a raise is “one of the more glaring aspects of the budget?” That reminds me of the fat, greedy, public sector union morons in the orange tee-shirts picketing the Wisconsin statehouse.
I wouldn’t say that all the public sector union types that I saw in Wisconsin were fat but I Was amazed at how generally disreputable they looked. Public sector types used to look like nondescript fuddy duddies. I hope that these were out of state union thugs because if those are the garden variety Wisconsin civil service the state is in a world of hurt.
His Roc and Valentinus, I wonder what you two gentlemen do or did for a living to be so sanctimonious about another persons livelihood. His Roc you say the cost of living has gone down. I guess that means the price of gasoline is lower today than 3 years and I am not paying $3.48 per gal. Go try to buy some lettuce and tomatoes today anything else that requires transportation. I guess you don’t live on a salary or pension that requires you the watch every penny.
Louis Stadlin,
Sanctimonious? Well, I guess I am when public sector employees complain about food prices with their mouths full.
Do you live under a rock? Cherry pick consumer items all you want, but the overall cost of living has been negative for the past three years. As for gasoline, the average price of regular unleaded three years ago was $4.12 per gallon in July 2008. Look it up. Why do you think that Social Security hasn’t been raised for three years?
The problem with you and the other public sector whiners is that you have a combination of short-term memory loss with an inflamed sense of entitlement. Like I said, if the public sector is so unfair, then don’t let the door bang you on the butt on the way out.
Picky-picky-picky. Yes the average price of gas was $4.14 on 7-7-2008 but it dropped to $2.88 next week or month and has been rising ever since. Here is the chart. http://zfacts.com/p/35.html. I’m still curious about how you earn your money. Are you retired? I owned my own business for 35 years. How about you? I get social security but no pension. Every penny I get today, besides SSI, is the fruit of my labor. Not one penny comes from from what someone else wants to give me but I believe that every working person should be able to strive to attain the best standard of living he can get.
If your on Social Security then it’s not off the fruits of your labor.
Still cherry-picking Louis? The Social Security COLA has been zero for 2009-2011.
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/colaseries.html
Gasoline, lettuce, and tomatoes are all averaged into a single index. And the index has been a negative number for three years now.
How do I earn my money? The old fashioned way–I work. I spent 25 years on active duty in the military, worked in the defense industry for 10 years, and now have my own consulting business. My military retired pay has not been raised for three years now and my consulting rates are the same that they were in 2007. Tell me again why I should pay higher taxes so that public sector employees can have a raise?
HIs Roc, You spent 25 years in the military. If you saw action I applaud you. If you didn’t, as far as I am concerned it was just another job. You spent 25 years on the government payroll and like the teachers and firemen you received an excellent retirement with excellent health benefits. I did 5 years in the Navy and did not see any combat. I didn’t and don’t consider myself anything special for having served. After you retired from the military you double dipped working for the Defense dept. You got special consideration for your military service and now I would bet your consulting service is dealing with Defense dept. So aside from any combat duty that you did, I guess, you have been on the government dole all
your life. If I am wrong I apologize.
Louis,
Your ad hominem fixations and attacks are contemptible. Almost all your posts are comments about posters not about the issues. This has nothing to do with the issue under discussion which is whether public service employees have the right to collectively bargain against the taxpayers and expect to get endless raises even when the economy is miserable and their performance is unverifiable. Even many public sector workers would say no. No one said they should be mistreated. You refuse to acknowledge that in the past public sector employees had low wages Because they had job security and good benefits. There are tradeoffs in life. Except of course for leftists in their rhetoric.
Louis,
This has to do with HisRoc having a contractual agreement with the Federal Government and both parties honoring it, not your opinion. Believe me, most service members need to get another job after so-called retirement to make ends meet.
When it comes to public sector unions…you’re having difficulty distinguishing between contractual agreements between two parties and the process in developing that contract. When unions have innovative compensation, accounting gimmicks and lucrative deals that obligates the state to impossible demands…then the process needs revised.
Jackson, Sure military retirees have to get another job. If I would have retired from the Navy after 20 years I would have been 39 years old. I would have had health benefits for the rest of my life. I would have had commissary benefits for the rest of my life. Sounds like something public service employees get now, and more. So using your logic maybe we should look at cutting retirement benefits to military retirees who don’t serve in combat in the same manner. While I was in the Navy I did my job well. I got paid for my work. So does a fireman unless he is called to a fire. According to what I read here you would cut his benefits because they are gained by collective bargaining. I will concede that retirement benefits have gotten out of hand in all sectors of our country and something has to be done but it seems to me that the only retirement benefits that should be cut are the other guys.
Valentinus, I glory in your contempt. I guess your addressing any Democrat by degrading names is addressing the issues.
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