Jim Johnston, Gary Hansen, and Bill Brenny are the three council members that voted for this.
The following change has been made to this post: The title used to be "The total entry level compensation package for an unskilled laborer working for the City of Sac City is $42,000ish before overtime" Due to new information that has come to light, it is now entitled "The total entry level compensation package for an unskilled laborer working for the City of Sac City is $46,000ish before overtime"
so you are saying the City Council control all jobs in Sac City?? because your statement makes it sound that way 'getting a job IN Sac City' shouldn't it say getting a job for the city? And again tell me what place of business doesn't hire within first.....state, county and many more do so please stop boo hooing!
ReplyDeleteJim Johnston and Gary Hansen are no strangers to making bad financial decisions for this town. Irresponsible votes like this are the reason our taxes were so high for so long, and it is the reason our taxes will go back up.
ReplyDeleteBill Brenny apparently decided he liked that idea and gave them the third vote they needed to make that happen.
Hiring with in is fine but post it for everyone too. Never know there might be better people suited for the job than what is already there. Don't hire from within and not post the opening ever. Give everyone a fair chance.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10:05Am,
ReplyDeleteThey ARE posting it in public...
...and after carefully considering all candidates, they will choose to hire the part-timer that's been working for them for the last three months. It is a done deal. The corruption regarding this issue in my mind is total and without question.
Is this part-time person unqualified for the job?
ReplyDeleteIt's nearly impossible to be unqualified for this job. Hiring will be done by favoritism only.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't hiring someone thats already doing the job part time make the most sense. It would require very little if any training.
ReplyDeleteTell that to one of the other people that have supposedly "shown interest" and aren't really going to get a fair chance.
ReplyDelete...and don't lose sight of the fact that they will ne compensating at over $40,000 per year to start in a position that by Bob Scheffler's testimony is working out just fine on a temp employee basis.
I have one for you to look into....it is suppose to be a rule now that they are not suppose to hire family memebers. Now this rule came long after Bob and Danny and John and Jack. I know for a fact a family memeber of one of the employees applied for the office job up stairs and didn't even get a interview because she was related to a current city employee and that same employee questioned it upstairs with the big boss man and was told that they would not even consider hiring her because they were related however after turning her down they hire the part time guy down stairs who is related to not 1 but 2 current employees!
ReplyDeleteThe rule is that you can't have more than one related employee working for the same department. So, you can't have two related police officers, or two related office employees, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo... I don't know, is the person you are alleging was turned down related to a current office employee? Is someone in the maintenance department related to this part time guy?
Instead of making accusations about councilmen Johnston and Hansen about bad financial decisions why don't you list them???? Then tell us why they were bad???? And I see you now can predict the future??? Please tell me who is going to win the world series and I'll make a huge wager on your all knowing powers (NOT)...
ReplyDeleteHey if you can suck off the taxpayers' tit, why not? 42K is a pittance compared to the greatest sucklings in the county..the farmers.(BTW, you're welcome for that new pickup every other year)
ReplyDeleteThe sooner you learn nothing is "fair" in life and learn to accept it, the happier you'll be;>)
No, the person everyone is referring to has relation working there but they are in different departments and would not even be working together if he was to be hired.
ReplyDeleteNo, There is not anybody in the maintenance department that is related to guy that was the seasonal help!!!
ReplyDeleteA 4 year college graduate in this town does not start for this total package, but a entry level laborer for the City of Sac City does? Every new banker, nurse or school teacher should go apply. This is a joke. People at the City have no idea how well they have it. Where else could they go and get these kind of wages and these kind of high end benefits?
ReplyDeleteHummmmmm I saw that LAWN MOWER guy down here at the park a few weeks ago rewiring the Chautauqua building. What does a electrician make in this town? I saw that LAWN MOWER guy doing plumbing down here last week in the Chautauqua building, and today he was unplugging the dump site drain. How much does a plumber make in this town? Hummmmmmm Work on that garbage route see how you like it, the stink and the filth. You would have to get good benefits and wages to even do it. Looks to me like we have a bunch of jealous people in our little town.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the 1970's people and if you have a 4 year degree and make less then that you in the wrong field....I'll guarantee you nurses, school teachers and bankers all make more money/hour with benefits than this. Plumbers make $50.00/hr and electricians the same that's $104000 per/yr give me frikin break. I know your going to say they have to pay taxes and all the crap but it's still more than $42000/yr.
ReplyDeleteI am a teacher and make less than $20,000 a year.
ReplyDeleteI don't see ANY new teachers anywhere near $42k. So MGM will pay a new helper $42,000 or our local electricians. You got to be kidding me. This must be a city worker writing this. Out of touch with the real world.
ReplyDeletemaybe you could get a summer job mowing lawns?
ReplyDeleteIt takes lots of money to live nowdays. Either the person putting down the City empoyees has inherited lots of money, married someone with lots of money, is rich and afraid of someone else taking some of theirs or you live off the government. So which is it? What do you do for a living, do you earn it? How much do you make? Shouldn't it be published in the paper?
ReplyDeleteFor the poor teacher who earns less than $20 a year look for a different job, I earned about that much 8 years ago working for the Howard Center as an RA.
You don't see a teacher doing the work that these city workers do every day either. I am not putting teachers down but I would like to see them work outside all day long all winter, and work all summer in the heat. You hear them all complain now about how bad it is to be at school with no air, and how they hate recess duty in the winter. Come on do you think they really deserve more money.......
ReplyDeleteTo Nov. 1st. @1:21, maybe they should go apply then maybe they would know what a real job was !!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete@Anon 11/2 3:40pm.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I work at the Howard Center and I don't get shit. Thank god I've figured out that I need to find another job as early as I did.
11/2 10:45pm.
ReplyDeleteYES. Teachers do deserve more than they're getting. Are you a complete fucking idiot? I can't even believe that someone would say something like that...
Question for anyone???? What is the starting wage at Van Top or EvapCo including benefits? I would bet it is barely half of what our fine City is willing to pay. What the hell, it's not their money. If it was coming out of their own pockets I guarantee you it would be a lot less. Thank you Jim and Nick for trying to stop this madness.
ReplyDeleteCurtis, sometime could you get a break down of City benefits for us?
to Anon 11/2 1045pm. My thoughts exactly. Where did our doctors, Howard Center employees, city workers, ect get their education? TEACHERS! Who are the people that take care of your children for 8 hours a day? TEACHERS! Don't you want the best person doing the job? I personally don't complain in the winter time. I am all for kids going outside to play. They need to "run off their extra energy" especially in the winter time. I can also add that teachers do not choose their profession based on money. They choose it because they want to make an impact on the lives of children. They have compassion, commitment, and love for children of all different cultures, races, and backgrounds. Where would we be without even the mediocre teachers? Cutbacks being made are only negatively affecting the children of our future. I personally think if we would pay teachers what they were worth, MORE, it would encourage more people to base their college education on the love of their career without choosing based on their love of money. Teachers attend inservices, professional education, ect during the summer months as part of their salary. It all goes with the job!
ReplyDelete1. I bet it's more than half. Including unemployment insurance, etc. Fourty hours per week at ten bucks and hour is almost $21K right there before benefits, and I can't imagine anyone voluntarily working for much less than that. But I agree with you when you talk about the Sac City Council's attitude towards money.
ReplyDelete2. Breaking that down is kind of a project I'm working on.
The median household income per capita for Sac City was $30300 as of the last census in 2000 and this does not include benefits. Based on an inflation rate of 2%/year (conservative) the median income now is probably around $36900/year/capita. If you add in benefits including health insurance it would easily put it at $48000 per year. The city is starting their employee below the community average. You can check my figures on the federal census web site.
ReplyDeleteSC,
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010) the average entry level maintenance employee wage for the North West Central area, (that's us) is $9.68 per hour.
You are making a couple of errors, the biggest of which is that you are equating an entire household’s pay with that of the starting pay of one single unskilled laborer.
The second is that you are not breaking it down by age. The average entry level pay for a generic job in Sac City is $17,229 per year. That’s taking into account skilled education required positions that bring the number up.
Hey go out to the sewer plant and ask the construction company what they have to start their workers out at which is considered the prevailing wage in this area for all workers?
ReplyDeleteHey, go out and ask secondary roads what their starting wage is for SKILLED positions.
ReplyDeleteYou looked at one type of maintenance worker as where there are other entry levels that are a little bit higher. I would assume that this job requires more then just parts repair or more then just grounds keeping so I think your skewing your facts to fit your aruguement. What is the hourly wage before benefits that the City employee gets?
ReplyDelete$15.00 per hour.
ReplyDeleteWrong you didn't even go out there!!!
ReplyDeleteSC, you twisted conspiratorial freak, I promise that the hourly wage at which the city will be hiring the next full time employee will be $15.00 per hour.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous 11/3/10 8:46 PM: There is nothing I hate more than listening to teachers whine about how "little" they get paid. When you take into account they automatically get approximately 2-3 months off EVERY summer, along with a week or two around Christmas, they're doing pretty good. Extrapolate their "meager" wage out for a full year, and all of a sudden the numbers don't look so bad.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous above....teachers only get paid for the days they work. While they get a paycheck year round, it is only for the contract hours they worked; NOT the countless evening and weekend hours they put in during the school year OR the professional development they PAY to participate in over the summer. You also must consider the thousands of dollars they spend from their MEAGER wages to supply their classrooms with the materials they need to best teach children as well as food, clothing, and other necessities for kids who, otherwise, would be without these basic items. Personally, I didn't get into teaching for the money. I spent well over a large amount of money and countless hours to earn a degree that meant I would sacrifice my nights and weekends to make a difference in the lives of my students. I don't complain about my wages but it burns me when people make claims of teachers "whining about how little they get paid"! Look at the whole picture; I can't name more than one or two teachers who truly complain about their wages. We wouldn't keep making the sacrifices we do if that's why we were in the "business"!
ReplyDeleteHow did this conversation go from unskilled laborers to teachers? Teachers have a degree and unskilled laborers are working for the city. So technically teachers should be making more but since life isn't fair people will have to deal with it. It is bad that the city is paying people who have no skills a fair amount of money, but what can we do besides vote them out of power.
ReplyDeleteoh... anonymous @ 9:49 p.m., I trust you know about the Corrective & Loan Association that has funds to help provide those basic necessities for your students when needed. Your school counselor should have the information...
ReplyDeleteGET A LIFE !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't usually post on here but I am a little upset. I am a nurse and I work very hard for my money doing things that most wouldn't do. I don't make 42,000 a year. As far as teachers go they deserve so much more than they make because they have one of the most important jobs of all. They are building our future and I think it is a crying shame they don't make more!!
ReplyDeleteanonymous 11/5 @11:55p... Indeed... given their impact on society and their care for our most vulnerable people, if it were up to me I'd see that teachers, nurses and child-care providers were paid their weight in gold.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone here who is talking about teachers' pay: When you think about it, can we really afford to pay teachers more? Yes teachers do deserve a good sum of money more than they get now, but how can we achieve this. Money doesn't just grow on trees (except in Narnia). If we pay the teachers more, then we have to cut some stuff from the schools. This would mean cutting free lunches for needy students, loss of band, or probably less teachers. This would hurt the students more. So until the teachers go on strike demanding more pay, they can accept what they are getting paid as benefitial to all parties. There is just nothing that can be done.
ReplyDeleteI am not disagreeing with you Curtis the city probably will start their employee out at $15.00/hr. I am trying to get through your thick skull that the is a fair starting wage!!!! Below is what they have to pay at the sewer plant for all the construction workers. Quit the name calling sometimes you can be wrong Curtis it's a fact of life.
ReplyDeleteGENERAL DECISION: IA20100147 08/06/2010 IA147
Date: August 6, 2010
General Decision Number: IA20100147 08/06/2010
Superseded General Decision Number: IA20080147
State: Iowa
Construction Type: Building
County: Sac County in Iowa.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS (does not include single family
homes or apartments up to and including 4 stories).
Modification Number Publication Date
0 03/12/2010
1 04/16/2010
2 08/06/2010
ASBE0057-003 05/01/2008
Rates Fringes
Hazardous Material
Handler/asbestos removal
worker (Includes preparation,
wetting, stripping, removal,
scrapping, vaccuming,
bagging, and disposal of all
insulation materials, whether
they contain asbestos or not,
from mechanical systems).........$ 25.75 8.40
Insulator/asbestos worker
(Includes application of all
insulating materials,
protective coverings,
coatingss & finishsings to
all types of mechanical
systems).........................$ 26.44 7.37
----------------------------------------------------------------
BOIL0083-003 01/01/2010
It takes a special person to be a teacher. I couldn't do it. Sonya
ReplyDeleteI am proud to be a teacher and could go on my soapbox about what I do or don't do, but here's the bottom line...when you work for the public as a teacher or skilled laborer you have to grow thick skin. Everyone feels they have the right to tell you what you do right and what you do wrong (and mostly they tell you what you do wrong). So do your best and work hard and if you can look at yourself in the mirror and say "Job well done" than don't worry about all the critics. Sammie
ReplyDeleteWell said Sammie !!!!! You are a very good teacher i have to agree with you ! Roxie
ReplyDeleteYou need really thick skin in this town evidently ! And you keep going on and on about unskilled laborer at the city. Who is unskillled may I ask???? Do you have to be skilled to pick up garbage, recycle, or things like this ??? Just wondering what you keep referring to??
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 11/7/10 11:30PM
ReplyDeleteA laborer for the city is an unskilled position. it requires no further education beyond a high school or equivalent and requires no special licensing with the exception of obtaining a CDL, (in some cases).
Well Curtis you are wrong on that one, some need more then just a CDL. The water treatment plant guys have to go through a lot of training and get certified to do the job. And there are those in maintenance that have to have a number of hours per year to be able to spray for mosquitoes. Where most of them may have not had to have a higher education to get their jobs does that make them anyless unskilled? You act as if they all started out at $45K a year, most of them that make that now have worked there for 15 years or more. And all this coming for a person that doesn't work! For all those of you going after the teachers, first they are the very foundation of your kids education, yes I am one the believes teachers should be the highest paid of any job, but I had a teacher tell me that it is good a teachers wage is low that means the ones that go into teaching and are still teachers to this day really like/love their job. No one ever said life was fair, no one ever said that getting a higher education will make you a ton of money. Teachers are paid by the state, where do you think that money comes from...tax payers. Most of the city workers earn every penny, just because most of you think working for the city isn't a hard job doesn't mean it is a job for everyone. There are some that do very little, there are some that do nothing and then there are those few that do a ton of work through out the day and it seems the famous 'lawn mower' gets a lot of shit on here and for what, doing his job? As someone said in a post earlier, he does more then that, he does all maintenance on city vehicales, he can work in the gas department, he sprays, he does trash pick up and recycling. He takes care of all the parks, he does electral work and plumbing work, removes snow so yes he earns his money and benifits. You can vote in all new council members and you all might get your way of starting out at a lower wage but like it or not the rest are all grandfathered in on their pay. And I believe that even if they all were paid less Curtis and all of you would still bitch about city employees, you need something to do.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, many city workers have a great deal of training and have been educated; But unlike teachers, many of them did not have this training when they began their employment. An unlike teachers, the funding for their training did not come from their own pockets but was paid by the public.
ReplyDeleteIn the past five years cost of living has increased at a higher rate then what our pay increases have. Including myself, I know a lot of people who work full and part time jobs to keep food on the table. We should not complain of what other people in our community are making. I hope everyone in Sac City improves financially. This will only help our community. The more money you have the more money you spend in your community. Instead of complaining that someone is making more then you, go out and improve your own financial situation.
ReplyDeleteCurtis with all the crap your are putting out there what do YOU feel is a good staring wage?
ReplyDeleteI think the real gripe here isn't the $$ being made by the city employees, which is better than average, but still no where near what investor-owned utilities such as MidAmerican, Alliant, phone companies, etc. pay. An electric lineman can easily make a six figure income today with an average amount of overtime while actually only working 4 or 5 hours a day when you count windshield time, union-contracted foul weather clauses, and driving by the golf course to check out the lady golfers(a common occurrence often witnessed in Sac a decade ago). Granted, other than gas work, the work is potentially more dangerous and takes a fair bit of training, but really no more brains.
ReplyDeleteI believe the real gripe lies in the good old boy network that has kept the same old family names and close relatives on the city payroll throughout the years. How many newcomers or better-qualified candidates have been overlooked in favor of somebody's nephew or a son of a fireman, or someone that is already on county and/or city relief and needs a good paying job just so they can pay their city utilities or property taxes?? probably quite a few. Communities need new blood to stay fresh and bring in ideas and views that aren't mainstream. Same goes for the city council/mayor, there should be term limits on every elected office in this country. Serve your term, then get the hell out of the way and let someone else do their public duty. That way favoritism, nepotism, and herd mentality can't take hold. Inbreeding not only weakens plants and animals, but also communities.
Alot of companies would rather keep the employees they have and give them raises every year than to hire new employees because of the cost of schooling that they need. If they would hire new employees for the waste and water plants every couple of years they would be spending alot of money to educate them. And we might be in trouble if it is someone that can't learn the job correctly.
ReplyDeleteShelly, Bullshit. Planned attrition is a reality in companies that use unskilled labor. And we aren't talking about plant operators, in case you forgot. We are talking $50K for someone who works for a department of the city whose supervisor is so inept, that he can't even fix the cemetery fence that he screwed up.
ReplyDelete... and for a council that is too afraid to make him.
ReplyDeleteCurtis as I said before the Median Household income per person in Sac City is $30300 before benefits @ 15.00/hr equals $31,200 a difference of a whole $900/yr. Which equates to $17.31/wk which equates to $0.017 per household per week. What a jerk for making such an issue of this!!!! Even if you take the whole $46200/yr that equates to an average cost per household per month of $3.85. WOW that is a bargain in my book. Plus employing another person can generate an additional $218400/yr for the community if all the wages are spent within the community in a year!!!!! I know this is way over your head but it is simple economics Curtis!!!
ReplyDeleteSC,
ReplyDeleteYou are simply wrong. There is no such thing as median household income per person. That's not even a real measure. In your mind you are mixing up median household income with average per person income.
You have twice misunderstood this concept in the same comment thread.
Have you compared what other towns pay their City employees?
ReplyDeletesc = Sac City employee?????? Out of touch.
ReplyDeletesc is REALLY giving Sac City employees bad name. Musta of been one of those "high school diploma optional" hires! LOL
ReplyDeleteI see the City employees have been out all night and day plowing the streets so everyone could get out and go to the store, etc. Where were you? In your cozy bed? Dreaming up the next bad comment you can say about someone?
ReplyDeleteTo Anon, Nov. 13, 12:25...
ReplyDeleteYou must be mistaken !!! It couldn't have been the city emplyees out in the wee hours of the morning and most of the day cleaning streets as these employees would only be standing around holding up the shovels while someone else did the work !!!!!
One single day you had to lose a lttle sleep. Yeah, You guys are a bunch of [REMOVED] heros.
ReplyDeleteDo your jobs and fix the downtown curbs you lazy assholes.
Anonymous 11/13/10 10:23PM,
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's the employees. They just do what they're told.
The boss could have at any time in the last two decades made the sewers and the streets a priority, but he just plain doesn't seem to care what the City of Sac City, Iowa looks like.
Based on the look of the streets and sewers, it just doesn't seem like he takes any pride in the way our town looks, and you can tell that by the way he directs the people under him.
In my opinion, it's time for a seriously overdue retirement party.
To refer to an earlier comment, I do not believe any public employee is "grandfathered in" and the last I knew Iowa was an "At Will" State wherein one can legally be fired for no reason, except discrimination of race,creed,etc.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem to me that the City Council would want to obtain information regarding wages from local and area industries and/or employers in the area and also obtain public employee wage data from neighboring communites (ie: Lake View; Lake City; Pocahontas, Wall Lake, Odebolt, Ida Grove, Newell, Storm Lake; Carroll;etc.). I realize that some of these communities may or may not have a gas or electric or phone utility, but one should be able to weigh that information.
I would hope that the City would not have to hire Snyder or any engineering firm to put together the above data.
Get with it City Council!