Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Democrats Danced, Boston Pays the Fiddler

It seems Boston now has to cough up the money paid to avoid union protests and picketing during the Democratic Convention last summer. As usual, the long term consequence of Democratic policy socks it to the taxpayer. All this to try and make Kerry and Kennedy look like friends of the working man...yeah, right!

This from the Boston Herald:
M
ayor Thomas M. Menino's scramble to avoid embarrassing union protests during last summer's Democratic National Convention resulted in nearly $40 million in pay hikes that pushed the city budget past the unprecedented $2 billion mark, a watchdog agency charged.
``The city was interested in getting those contracts negotiated before the DNC and they paid a premium for that,'' said Sam Tyler of the non-profit Boston Municipal Research Bureau. ``The union leadership saw that as a way to leverage a more lucrative union contract. There was a lot of pressure. Obviously it wasn't in the mayor's best interest to have the unions picketing the delegate events.''
In addition to the nearly $40 million salary hike, the mayor's $2.045 billion budget includes more than $20 million in health care cost increases and $39.7 million in pension hikes. The entire budget, which needs City Council approval, marks the first time the city's budget has cracked $2 billion and represents a $116 million increase or 6 percent.
Several city unions working without contracts threatened to protest at the DNC while Bay State Sens. John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy
vowed not to cross picket lines. An arbitrator settled the contracts just days before the national political bash.
Menino yesterday called Tyler's claim that the city gave the unions too much to avoid political embarrasment ``a lie.''
``That's not true at all,'' the mayor said. ``We negotiated right up to the (DNC). We were there for 10 months negotiating and (the unions) wouldn't move at all. The arbitrator made a decision.''
Tyler said several city unions made out by ``backloading'' their contracts to get multiple wage increases in fiscal 2006. Police, for example, got a 2.5 percent pay hike this year but will see another 3.5 percent later this year and an additional 2 percent bump in January. Teachers, firefighters and other city workers will see similar multiple wage hikes over the next year.
Menino said soaring employee and health care costs forced a ``conservative'' approach and blocked many new programs. His budget does call for $4 million in savings, including $2.2 million on renegotiated trash contracts and $1.2 million in electricity savings.
Total budget - $2.045 billion. It is $116 million more than last year's budget, or a 6 percent hike. By comparison, the 2005 budget was $40.7 million higher than the previous year, or 2.1 percent.
The budget includes:
  • $30 million in salary increases
  • More than $20 million in health insurance increases
  • $39.7 million in pension hikes, mostly due to early retirement and voluntary retirement incentives
    Here is a breakdown of the departmental budgets and the 2006 increase:
  • Fire department - $147,084,123, a $7.5 million increase
  • Police department - $233,121,699, a $8.2 million increase
  • Schools - $712,413,221, a $32.26 million increase
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