News today that our illustrious city council has approved a fire union proposal that will allow 60+ firefighters to keep their jobs for another year. Bittersweet victory for the union, I’m sure, but a victory no less–especially for all those families that would have been affected by the cuts, not to mention the impact on public safety services. No such luck for the purported 209 Sheriff deputies whose jobs are on the chopping block.
I read recently that losing 209 dep jobs will put the Sheriff’s Department at circa 1970 staffing levels. How’s that for public safety? Where is the outrage? I thought crime was a “regional problem” that demanded “multi agency cooperation” (or so said our mayoral candidate last fall).
If I was in an “unincorporated” area of Sacramento (and thank God I’m not), I’d be packing my $#@% up and heading somewhere else–likely somewhere with at least 1990’s staffing levels [Ed: yeah, somewhere like Natomas where cops are plentiful and crime is nearly non existent. Ha!]. If I was a Sac County supervisor who oversaw the county budget for the past five or so years, I’d be ashamed of myself.
How? That’s my one and only question. HOW does this happen? Blame it on the housing crisis or whatever you want, but the bottom line is that this is NOT happening in every county in the U.S. In fact many counties are doing fine–some are even hiring.
The difference? You tell me. I’m not ensconced deeply enough into local politics to weigh in with any degree of substance, but my common sense alone tells me that Sacramento County has been mismanaged. Plain and simple. They’ve either got unqualified people running it, or their priorities are completely backwards. I tend to lean towards the former, with a slight nod to the latter as well.
I have witnessed firsthand how ANTIQUATED and backwards the Sacramento County ASSessor’s office is. We’ve also learned–vis a vis multiple major stories–the problems plaguing Child Protective Services. Then there was the library snafu–at least in part associated with the county. I’m sure readers can share many more examples.
If other county agencies are run as poorly as the ones I’ve observed personally and through the media, I can pretty much guess why they are in the shape they’re in. To blame this snafu on John McGinness seems very shortsighted to me. The trouble with Sacramento County seems to be in its leadership ranks. Perhaps its high time to flush them all down the toilet and start anew? While we’re at it, let’s rid ourselves of the California state liberal politicians and judges who have spent us into a financial disaster that is making Enron look like child’s play.
Oh well. God speed to all those folks living in “unincorporated” Sacramento County. Buy a weapon and sleep on it at night. You may just need it. And good luck to the folks in Arden Arcade who are trying to incorporate. Can’t say I blame you. The sooner you get your own police force the better. You can no longer count on your county.
It is sad that the people of our city and county must literally “pay” for the mistakes of our elected officials. The last time I checked if I mess up on the job I get written up and if the same mistake happens again I get fired. Why doesn’t this happen for Government employees and officials? The answer would be to hold our elected officials accountable for how they screw over the everyday Joe of the services that we have paid for. But the reality is if you ask one Politian what went wrong they will point eight fingers and two thumbs at ten other individuals saying that it was their fault. I don’t think these people should snake through our system of government and continue their reign of political misuse of power.
Thankfully there happens to be an election cycle just around the corner so we as citizens of our communities can right the wrongs of our misguided elected officials. That is why I am running for city council D1 in 2010. I am just a normal guy with a conscience that will do the “Right” thing for its constituents. If you believe that we can do more for our city then support me in my up and coming election.
I may be an underdog but I got heart and a conscience and I think that’s what we need in our elected officials.
John Dahilig for City council D1 2010
The sheriff’s comment about 1970 staffing levels grabbed a lot attention but was a little light on actual data.
Per the sheriffs ‘07/08 budget (per the strategic plan on the sheriff website) that are 1398 filled positions for sworn deputies (1498 authorized). So a 209 person layoff is 15%.
The sheriff says that this 15% layoff will take the patrols available at any given time from 38 down to 9 or 10… a 75% reduction! http://www.sacbee.com/government/story/1981440.html
Or we hear about the $86 million spending cut. The 08/09 budget was $399 million, the proposed 09/10 budget was $427 Million … a 7% increase in a single year… but has been reduced to $341 Million. The $86 Million sounds bad, but in reality the budget is down 15% from ‘08/09 levels. http://www.budget.saccounty.net/coswcms/groups/public/@wcm/@pub/@obdm/@inter/documents/webcontent/sac_019132.pdf
I don’t mean to trivialize 15% cuts to workforce and spending for something as critical as police protection. but lets also recognize maybe the sheriff could do a bit more to prevent a 75% reduction in patrols … there might be some brinksmanship going on here.
The unions have screwed themselves so don’t blame city hall. Greed is contagious and now city residents are paying for union greed. Every wannabe politician has the same BS – take care of the little guy. What we need are councilpersons who are blessed with common sense, financial sense and the guts to say no to the greedy bastards. That person will get my vote.
The problem is that we elect humans.
Almost all humans do what is in their own best interest.
Unions control all city council districts in Sacramento, unless voters reject their candidates nothing will change.
THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!