Coleman gives $5,000 raise to director after overspending his budget by $4.2 Million
From:
HINE Hine
Date:
May 07 14:10 UTC
Short link
How damn easy it is for you to ignore #7! Wake up and smell the blood,
John. Where, oh where, are your priorities? Is cold, hard cash the only
thing of value to you? What's that saying about a noisy gong? You remind
me of it.
Taxpayers in St. Paul, Minnesota have paid $602.8 million for the Iraq War
thus far. For the same amount of money, the following could have been
provided:
173,410 People with Health Care for One Year OR
691,943 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR
13,223 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
9,486 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
65,716 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
40 New Elementary Schools OR
3,850 Affordable Housing Units OR
199,912 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
87,453 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
10,331 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
6,969 Port Container Inspectors for One year
from http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
Andrew M. Hine
3M IATD
Industrial Adhesives & Tapes Division
3M Center 230-1F-35
St. Paul MN
55144-1000
USA
<email obscured>
Tel: (651) 733-1070
Fax: (651) 737-2003
"John Krenik" <<email obscured>>
05/07/2008 07:36 AM
Please respond to
"St. Paul Issues Forum" <<email obscured>>
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"St. Paul Issues Forum" <<email obscured>>
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Subject
[SPIF] Coleman gives $5,000 raise to director after overspending his
budget by $4.2 Million
Hi All,
Mayor Chris Coleman recently approved a $5,000 raise for the Director of
Public Works after a recent annual review of his job performance, putting
the director's salary at $115,000. This action by the mayor comes after
the director of Public Works overspent his budget by $4.2 million.
A link to a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune is:
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/18715359 and St. Paul Pioneer
Press: http://www.twincities.com/ci_9175487
The public works right-of-way fund was overspent by Public Works by a tune
of $3.5 million in 2007. This shortfall increased to $4.2 million because
of a drop in revenues and increased energy costs.
I have major difficulty in rewarding a department head for overspending
his budget by over $4.2 million. This is taking money away from other
areas of the city during very hard economic times.
Some solutions that are being looked at in addressing this shortfall:
1. Seal-coating of streets every 10 years instead of every eight years is
expected to save about $450,000.
2. Administrative spending cuts are expected to save about $100,000.
3. Eliminating the phone system that alerts residents of snow emergencies
is expected to save $50,000.
4. Sweeping of arterial streets 10 times a year instead of 16 is expected
to save $300,000.
5. Putting off the purchase of new equipment is expected to save about
$430,000.
6. Plowing when snow depth reaches 4 inches instead of 3 inches. This
will only create a road safety hazard.
The city council wants the downtown streets swept so they are eliminating
alley repaving and lawn mowing. The overall maintenance of our streets
will be less. Cutting back on the maintenance of physical property in the
city will cost the city in the long run. The failure to maintain and do
simple preventative maintenance is vital to keeping our roads in good
condition. Playing catch up later will only cost the taxpayers more in
the end.
Additionally, what is the rest of the nation going to see in late summer
when the RNC comes to town (I would be saying the same thing if the DNC
came to town)? I will be greatly embarrassed if our city looks dirty and
trashy to the rest of the nation. Is this the best we can do here in St.
Paul?
Council Member Pat Harris is 100% correct when he says the budgeting
system really needs to be fixed. Errors like this force cuts to services
in other areas of the city that are important to people.
?Beese, an appointee of Mayor Chris Coleman who has an accounting
background, said it was his fault. "We let you down last year, and
ultimately I take full responsibility, especially for the Right of Way
Maintenance Fund," he said.? (Pioneer Press) Now mayor Coleman is giving
Beese a $5,000.00 raise.
What is wrong with this picture? It looks like mayor Coleman is rewarding
a friend and this raise is NOT based on his performance.
Maintaining our roads is vital to maintaining the health of our city.
These are basic city services and by cutting back on basic maintenance for
our roads by our city is the wrong way to go. Mayor Coleman is sending
out the wrong message to other city department managers by rewarding this
manager after he overspent his budget and this is just plain wrong. What
mayor Coleman is saying is, if you overspend your budget by $4.2 million
we are still going to reward you with a $5,000.00 pay raise. This is
simply the wrong message for mayor Coleman to be sending out.
Sincerely,
John Krenik
Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
John Krenik
Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
Info about John Krenik: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/johnkrenik
This topic's messages may be viewed at:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/3XuVUEQvCzW82xHV5Jl7vr
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