From the Press-Enterprise: Right now, the city spends two-thirds of its budget on public-safety workers’ salaries. Under the current charter, there is virtually nothing the City Council can do — Section 186 requires that public-safety workers’ wages and benefits align with the average salaries of their peers in 10 similarly sized cities. The problem is obvious: working class San Bernardino cannot afford to pay the same salaries as wealthier Huntington Beach and Pasadena. According to testimony last week by San Bernardino financial adviser Michael Busch, San Bernardino pays its top 40 firefighters $190,000 a year on average; the next 40 earn about $166,000 on average; and the 40 after that earn about $130,000 a year on average. It’s insane. Insane — and unsustainable. Judge Jury has said previously that reforming the city’s charter is a vital step in returning the city to solvency. Whether San Bernardino can regain control of its fiscal destiny or remain a subsidiary of the state’s powerful pension fund and the public employee unions will depend on the wisdom of voters in November.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 15:59:36 +0000
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