Why cities like Vallejo, CA are going bankrupt!!!

sunggong · Mar 30, 2008

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/30/MN7OVQOPK.DTL

Many city employees racking up over $200k in overtime pay.

Even some park ranger pulled in close to $265k.

Looks at Vallejo firefighters' salaries, $190k....

I'm sure this crap goes on in every city in America.

I remember when I lived in Boston, several city employees got fired for unnecessarily racking up contractor $$$ for that Big Dig project. Also, I believe police officers there average about $150k.

If you're not doing too well trading, go become a firefighter or a policeman!

NY0BScalper · Mar 30, 2008

260k for a park ranger? 190k for a firefighter? And I thought trading is where the money's at...

gnome · Mar 30, 2008

And don't forget.. we taxpayers get to pay for their retirement/healthcare, even if we don't have our own.

sunggong · Mar 30, 2008

Yup, if you're not making over $200k from daytrading, consider becoming a gov't employee. :mad:

Plus, I'm sure their benefit packages are pretty generous as well whereas we, daytraders, have to pay everything ourselves.

nutmeg · Mar 30, 2008

While cities can afford generous employee compensation when tax revenue is pouring in, it causes fiscal problems in lean years like this one, said Tom Davidoff, a professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

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Professor of business? Perhaps a professor of business might question if taxes are too high to begin with rather than saying "affordable compensation".

Mvic · Mar 30, 2008

You couldn't pay me enough to be a police officer in the US. Quite possibly one of the worst jobs anyone could have, I don't begrudge them a penny.

Landis82 · Mar 30, 2008

8,000 city employees in San Francisco making > $100,000

2012 city employees in San Jose making > $100,000

1333 city employees in Oakland making > $100,000

Gotta love that OVERTIME!
Unreal.

daddyeaux · Mar 30, 2008

hey they gotta make big bucks to support their 2 beadroom1 bath stucco fire trap they owe $1.2 million on.

let's be reasonable.

blackjack007 · Mar 31, 2008

do people here really think 100-200k is a lot of money especially for people who are 40-50 years old?

google alone probably has a few thousand employees who make 6-figure compensation and many of them are in their 20s and early 30s.

fusionz · Mar 31, 2008

Quote from blackjack007:

do people here really think 100-200k is a lot of money especially for people who are 40-50 years old?

google alone probably has a few thousand employees who make 6-figure compensation and many of them are in their 20s and early 30s.

I agree, it's not that much for a skilled worker at that age. In addition, that article mentions the anomalies, they should mention the median income for those employees also.