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Called Meeting for the Board of Commissioners

The Paulding County Board of Commissioners will hold a Called Meeting on Monday, June 27, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. This meeting will be to discuss the FY2012 Budget and will be held in the Board of Commissioners Board Meeting Room, second floor at the Watson Government Complex located at 240 Constitution Boulevard, Dallas, Georgia 30132.

 

 

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People might be thinking "big deal" or "so what" when they read about the county budget. But it IS a big deal. The animal control is already cut back and the libraries and parks and rec. are also considerered being cut and Lord knows what else. But...its either cut back or raise taxes and nobody wants more taxes, but it's bad for folks to lose their jobs too. This meeting is important.

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I lost my job a while back and my household has cut way back on its expenditures, I expect the County to do so to, even if it means layoffs. I can think off a good 100K plus in duplication over at Paulding County right now....

 

I really would like to know what the diference is between the IBA and the Economic Development Inc. that was recently created in this County. The new entity was sold as a way top avoid confusion (between IBA and Chamber)for entities interested in relocating. So we are paying big bucks, for Chamber, IBA and Economic Development...

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People might be thinking "big deal" or "so what" when they read about the county budget. But it IS a big deal. The animal control is already cut back and the libraries and parks and rec. are also considerered being cut and Lord knows what else. But...its either cut back or raise taxes and nobody wants more taxes, but it's bad for folks to lose their jobs too. This meeting is important.

 

 

The county laid someone off from parks and rec on monday the day i got laid off from animal control. They also laid people off from the storm water dept and closed it last week.

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The cuts involved are substantial - over $2,000,000 - and layoffs are certainly an element. It is important to understand that these cuts come on top of two prior years of cuts totaling about six million annually since 2008.

 

That simply means the easy cuts happened two years ago.

 

pubby

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Sounds like the local GOP Board of Commissioners as well as GOP dominated Board of Education will be raising our taxes again. I tried to warn folks, but they just wouldn't listen.

 

I don't know about you Rhett but I've been enjoying tax cuts ... i.e. my tax bill has been going down. If they raised the millage rate a mill or two, my taxes would still be down as a dollar levy from 2009.

 

pubby

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I have to ask....

 

Why doesnt the county STOP employees from driving county cars home?? Just think of the gas, wear and tear(sp) and so forth? Its GOT to amount to something and every penny saved helps.

 

I asked before and everyone got pissy at me...said I was "being mean".

 

So, can anyone explain why these folks continue to drive county vehicles instead of their own?

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I have to ask....

 

Why doesnt the county STOP employees from driving county cars home?? Just think of the gas, wear and tear(sp) and so forth? Its GOT to amount to something and every penny saved helps.

 

I asked before and everyone got pissy at me...said I was "being mean".

 

So, can anyone explain why these folks continue to drive county vehicles instead of their own?

The ones I know who drive a county vehicle do so in order to go straight to the worksite if need be, and it was part of the salary package in the first place. Taking away those vehicles would be the same as telling that employee they have to take a $5000+ annual cut in pay.

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The ones I know who drive a county vehicle do so in order to go straight to the worksite if need be, and it was part of the salary package in the first place. Taking away those vehicles would be the same as telling that employee they have to take a $5000+ annual cut in pay.

 

 

This should only be allowed if the person is "on call". I had a family member that worked for AC years ago and on the weeks he was on call--he drove the truck home--just because he would sometimes get a call in the middle of the night.

 

That should be the only reason to drive a county vehicle home. Most folks that do drive one home probably make enough to drive their own vehicle anyway. My job has never provided me a car and I am sure that most folks are the same--why should you be different if you work for the government??? And it would be different if they ONLY used the vehicle to go back and forth--not taking their kids to school and such--just saying.

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The ones I know who drive a county vehicle do so in order to go straight to the worksite if need be, and it was part of the salary package in the first place. Taking away those vehicles would be the same as telling that employee they have to take a $5000+ annual cut in pay.

 

 

I understand what you are saying. Times have changed. Cuts are everywhere and NO ONE should have special privies. Other counties have put the boot down and parked cars...why doesn't Paulding?

 

This should only be allowed if the person is "on call". I had a family member that worked for AC years ago and on the weeks he was on call--he drove the truck home--just because he would sometimes get a call in the middle of the night.

 

That should be the only reason to drive a county vehicle home. Most folks that do drive one home probably make enough to drive their own vehicle anyway. My job has never provided me a car and I am sure that most folks are the same--why should you be different if you work for the government??? And it would be different if they ONLY used the vehicle to go back and forth--not taking their kids to school and such--just saying.

 

I totally agree with you. I get tired of seeing county vehicles dropping off their kiddos at school...dont blieve me? drop in EPHS and check out the county cars dropping off kids.

 

I get tired of seeing county vehicles sitting in the Wal Mart parking lot while they do their personal shopping. Drop in the Hiram Wally World and watch how many county employees are there....

 

AND....before anyone says anything, if they are purchasing things for county use, then ALL departments need to get together and make 1 list. Then 1 employee go do the shopping!

 

There are ways to cut the budget, the commissioners need to grow a pair and stop the waste first BEFORE laying off workers.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Oh...BTW....

 

NO gas expenses for them IF they drive their personal cars.

 

Its a J O B. there are expenses involved if you have a J O B.

 

County employees need to experience the real world for a change.

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I understand what you are saying. Times have changed. Cuts are everywhere and NO ONE should have special privies. Other counties have put the boot down and parked cars...why doesn't Paulding?

 

 

 

I totally agree with you. I get tired of seeing county vehicles dropping off their kiddos at school...dont blieve me? drop in EPHS and check out the county cars dropping off kids.

 

I get tired of seeing county vehicles sitting in the Wal Mart parking lot while they do their personal shopping. Drop in the Hiram Wally World and watch how many county employees are there....

 

AND....before anyone says anything, if they are purchasing things for county use, then ALL departments need to get together and make 1 list. Then 1 employee go do the shopping!

 

There are ways to cut the budget, the commissioners need to grow a pair and stop the waste first BEFORE laying off workers.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Oh...BTW....

 

NO gas expenses for them IF they drive their personal cars.

 

Its a J O B. there are expenses involved if you have a J O B.

 

County employees need to experience the real world for a change.

:clapping: :clapping: :wub: :wub:

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The ones I know who drive a county vehicle do so in order to go straight to the worksite if need be, and it was part of the salary package in the first place. Taking away those vehicles would be the same as telling that employee they have to take a $5000+ annual cut in pay.

 

 

That fact will be ignored. Government jobs have always paid lower than the private sector but they tried to close the gap with solid benefits.

 

Funny thing when times were good many people jabbed at government employees over their lower pay. I could not count the times I heard "Haha....I could not live on that" or "I would not do your job unless it paid a lot more". Now that things are not as good in the private sector people want to take away the little they do have.

Edited by Ugadawgs98
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That fact will be ignored. Government jobs have always paid lower than the private sector but they tried to close the gap with solid benefits.

 

Funny thing when times were good many people jabbed at government employees over their lower pay. I could not count the times I heard "Haha....I could not live on that" or "I would not do your job unless it paid a lot more". Now that things are not as good in the private sector people want to take away the little they do have.

 

 

I think when you consider tha number of holidays, etc. that government employees get--they get paid pretty darn good.

 

How many times have you walked into a tag office, post office or any such and had to stand a wait forever because they are moving in slow motion, talking to each other or just plain out ignoring you??? I can say that I have seen it happen numerous times--in several different counties--not just Paulding. And don't get me started on the post office folks. That has got to be the most stress free job in the world.

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I know some people that are county employees and they do not get paid for most holidays anymore. Yes they are off but it is a furlough day which mean no pay. Like the up coming 4th of July they are not getting paid. I think the only ones they get pay for now is Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I know the stuff like Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day they don't get paid.

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I think when you consider tha number of holidays, etc. that government employees get--they get paid pretty darn good.

 

 

Do you mean the ones they already took as furlough days?

 

Also, I got just as many holidays at the large corporation I worked at as local government gets.

Edited by Ugadawgs98
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Do you mean the ones they already took as furlough days?

 

Also, I got just as many holidays at the large corporation I worked at as local government gets.

 

 

Furlough days---don't even get me started. If $100-$150 a month is going to make these folks go broke--they were already there.

 

Banks are about the only other businesses that get ALL of the holidays that government does--just because they take the same days as the Federal Reserve.

 

Many companies are now cutting back on holidays and such--not just government. It's just a money saving thing. Does it boost morale--probably not, but at least they have a job.

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Furlough days---don't even get me started. If $100-$150 a month is going to make these folks go broke--they were already there.

 

Banks are about the only other businesses that get ALL of the holidays that government does--just because they take the same days as the Federal Reserve.

 

Many companies are now cutting back on holidays and such--not just government. It's just a money saving thing. Does it boost morale--probably not, but at least they have a job.

 

You were the one that brought up holidays. I simply pointed out local government only received holiday time comparable to the private sector instead of all the federal holidays as portrayed. Furthermore, all the holidays that you used to bolster your position on how great government pay is are now unpaid.

 

....and for simply pointing that out someone flags my post as negative. :rofl:

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I think when you consider tha number of holidays, etc. that government employees get--they get paid pretty darn good.

 

How many times have you walked into a tag office, post office or any such and had to stand a wait forever because they are moving in slow motion, talking to each other or just plain out ignoring you??? I can say that I have seen it happen numerous times--in several different counties--not just Paulding. And don't get me started on the post office folks. That has got to be the most stress free job in the world.

 

 

The holidays are unpaid, those are their furlough days.

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I worked for the County back in the day and left because my 31k dollar a year job with Overtime and being on call 2 weeks a month was not worth it. Listening to the public gripe about Higher pay scales and cush jobs are completely wrong. There are some jobs that are easier than others but imagine having 142,000 bosses griping about you and your job 24/7 and how they can do it better, quicker, smoother and for less money really made it a tough pill to swallow when I would come home and pay the bills and have 88.00 left in the account to buy food for Me and the kids. The only county jobs that have a High salary is the Sheriff and he deserves his money as well. You try and protect 142,000 people and keep 1/4 of them happy... I just think we dont give the "employees" enough credit for what they do with "little pay" in most cases.

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Every job I had in the private sector since 1976 included a car. And I was free to drive it for personal use as well. Geneally even if I went on a "vacation" with the family by car, I stopped and visited customers along the way.

 

If you hire on at a job, private or public, and a car is part of the salary package, then taking that car away in austere times is no different than taking a substantial cut in pay.

 

And I completely understand and agree with Sheriff's deputies driving their cars home. This also puts them on the road, but not on the clock, for their time to and from the Sheriff's Office, and/or while they are on personal business. The cars also hold up a lot longer if they have a single driver looking after them.

 

I don't know of too many county jobs I would call "cushion" jobs.

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I understand what you are saying. Times have changed. Cuts are everywhere and NO ONE should have special privies. Other counties have put the boot down and parked cars...why doesn't Paulding?

 

 

 

I totally agree with you. I get tired of seeing county vehicles dropping off their kiddos at school...dont blieve me? drop in EPHS and check out the county cars dropping off kids.

 

I get tired of seeing county vehicles sitting in the Wal Mart parking lot while they do their personal shopping. Drop in the Hiram Wally World and watch how many county employees are there....

 

AND....before anyone says anything, if they are purchasing things for county use, then ALL departments need to get together and make 1 list. Then 1 employee go do the shopping!

 

There are ways to cut the budget, the commissioners need to grow a pair and stop the waste first BEFORE laying off workers.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Oh...BTW....

 

NO gas expenses for them IF they drive their personal cars.

 

Its a J O B. there are expenses involved if you have a J O B.

 

County employees need to experience the real world for a change.

 

County employees don't experience the "real world"? What about furlough days/holidays with no pay? What about no pay raises in 4+/years? What about insurance costs going up, but your salary is cut due to furlough days? What about an entire department being cut (storm water division)?

 

In the past, yeah, you could argue a "government job was 'cushy'". Not any more.

 

If you see a County employee dropping off their kid at school in a County vehicle, take a picture, write down a tag/vehicle # and report them. But don't make such a broad statement and paint EVERY County employee into this picture. The average County employee and his/her family is suffering just as much as those in the "real world".

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the average county employee is not the issue here. the average county employee is being sacrificed. it is a diversion and it is predictably working here.

 

 

the tax increase is coming. the layoffs, service cuts and called meetings are part of scare tactics used to convince the taxpayer that this is the only way.

 

Paulding countians seem more than willing to bend over .

 

 

 

there are high paying jobs and practices in this county that need to be questioned.

 

 

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I don't know about you Rhett but I've been enjoying tax cuts ... i.e. my tax bill has been going down. If they raised the millage rate a mill or two, my taxes would still be down as a dollar levy from 2009.

 

pubby

 

Pubby, you aren't getting tax cuts....................your property has been devalued, what you have is worth less, they can't tax something that doesn't exist. This is happening all over the USA, not just in Paulding County. Yes, taxes have indeed increased, your property has lost value.

 

The ones I know who drive a county vehicle do so in order to go straight to the worksite if need be, and it was part of the salary package in the first place. Taking away those vehicles would be the same as telling that employee they have to take a $5000+ annual cut in pay.

 

Sorry, only folks that need to respond to emergencies (on call)..........should be allowed to take county vehicles home. It's not just the gas and additional repairs but our Fleet Insurance dropped dramatically when we quit letting employees bring company vehicles home.

 

 

The perks that have gone to most everyone in every field have been cut. Company vehicles are an expense most are sending by the way side. More and more companies are going with "vehicle allowances and phone allowances".

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County employees don't experience the "real world"?

 

They have no competition (private sector does). They dont have to provide good customer service or be nice, because they know the "customer" can't go anywhere else (private sector does). They have access to vision and dental insurance through work (most private sector doesn't). They have a retirement (most private sector doesn't). They don't have to struggle all day everyday to keep their boss AND their customer happy (private sector does). You think furlough days are bad??? Try a straight PAY CUT. You get paid less, but STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK. And its a lot easier to get rid of furlough days than it is to get a pay raise.

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They have no competition (private sector does). They dont have to provide good customer service or be nice, because they know the "customer" can't go anywhere else (private sector does). They have access to vision and dental insurance through work (most private sector doesn't). They have a retirement (most private sector doesn't). They don't have to struggle all day everyday to keep their boss AND their customer happy (private sector does). You think furlough days are bad??? Try a straight PAY CUT. You get paid less, but STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK. And its a lot easier to get rid of furlough days than it is to get a pay raise.

 

 

Your correct in the Competition area but taking a job with the county is tough. Once again the pay is less than most jobs that are comparable. They are criticized and called in and reported on more than ANY private sector job. They do have access to vision and dental but it is PAID for by the employee as its NOT FREE. Everyone has access to retirement regardless if its private or government job BUT THE HUGE difference is that its harder to PAY INTO RETIREMENT when you make LESS. I worked for the Paulding Government for 5 years and had a total of 1315.00 bucks in my retirement when i left... Again, its tough to pay for anything when salaries are low. I dont understand where the hatred comes from with non county employees. They do work hard, they do more than ONE job and there are 142,000 customers they deal with. How many "personally" do any of you deal with? I can only hope that I can deal with 1/3 of that total when I Retire, if i ever get too.

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They have no competition (private sector does). They dont have to provide good customer service or be nice, because they know the "customer" can't go anywhere else (private sector does). They have access to vision and dental insurance through work (most private sector doesn't). They have a retirement (most private sector doesn't). They don't have to struggle all day everyday to keep their boss AND their customer happy (private sector does). You think furlough days are bad??? Try a straight PAY CUT. You get paid less, but STILL HAVE TO GO TO WORK. And its a lot easier to get rid of furlough days than it is to get a pay raise.

 

Whaattt?? They don't have to provide good customer service/be nice? Do you know how many people, when they don't get their way, walk up the 3-floors to the County Commissioners office and biotch? Have you priced out what a County employee's vision/dental insurance actually covers when they go for a service? Do you know how long they have to be there to get their "full" retirement and do you know how many have gotten laid-off when they were *this close* to getting their retirement benefits? And where do you get off thinking they don't have to keep their bosses (their direct supervisor, that person's supervisor and 4-County Commissioners and a Chair) AND customers happy? And no, it's not a lot easier to get rid of furlough days than pay raises b/c of people like you with this mind-set.

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First post for me.

But this thread took a wierd turn.

I cannot understand how anyone can justify take home cares for ANY county employee. (other than one on actual emergency call that must respond to issues at night quickly)

It does not matter what they get paid. Things change as the hundreds of people out of work, out of their homes and out of hope can attest to. Gas prices are through the roof and the county still thinks it is a good idea to have how many employees take home a vehicle?

There is absolutely no reason why an entire department like the Marshals should have take home cars. How can this not be a problem to all tax payers? I am so surprised.

How many employees have take home cars or trucks home? How many jobs could it have saved if they were parked? How much money would be saved?

Seem like common sense questions to me.

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First post for me.

But this thread took a wierd turn.

I cannot understand how anyone can justify take home cares for ANY county employee. (other than one on actual emergency call that must respond to issues at night quickly)

It does not matter what they get paid. Things change as the hundreds of people out of work, out of their homes and out of hope can attest to. Gas prices are through the roof and the county still thinks it is a good idea to have how many employees take home a vehicle?

There is absolutely no reason why an entire department like the Marshals should have take home cars. How can this not be a problem to all tax payers? I am so surprised.

How many employees have take home cars or trucks home? How many jobs could it have saved if they were parked? How much money would be saved?

Seem like common sense questions to me.

 

To answer your question, I would estimate that given about $3,000 per car cost (based on $0.60 cent per mile) there is a job lost for about every 15 take-home cars. Of the approximately 250 county vehicles, my GUESS is that maybe 60 are take home. That would be four jobs by my guesstimate.

 

pubby

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Plenty of studies say fleets (not just gov, includes private sector)with assigned vehicles have less expensive repair histories and increased longetivity which offset much of the expense that can be attributed to the communting portion of use.

 

Either way....it is still part of the employees compensation package that the county offered to the employee as compensation for the job they perform. Many people seem to still be ignoring that.

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Thank you for answering that so well. This is not okay and hopefully someone with some sense in county government will see this and fix it! Geez!

 

Oh and no one is ignoring it may have been part of the employment agreement, but so was a "Job" to the employees that were laid off. So were paid holidays, but that changed. Why is this any different? Times change and things that may make sense in a better economy, do not make sense in this one.

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Oh and no one is ignoring it may have been part of the employment agreement, but so was a "Job" to the employees that were laid off. So were paid holidays, but that changed. Why is this any different? Times change and things that may make sense in a better economy, do not make sense in this one.

 

I guess we will disagree. The expense per employee is pretty small when factored over the long run. You can't take everything if you want to keep the employees that in many cases the county has invested lots of money to train and certify. No raises for several years, huge increases in medical, and forced unpaid days are morale busters on their own. The county has to keep some of its obligations or it will cost them more in the long run when experience walks away.

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Another thing not mentioned is many of those with take home vehicles respond directly to job sites when working. In many cases there is no savings, the distance from the employees home to the job is a wash when compared to the distance from the office to the job. Also, instead of the employee being at the job site at the start of their day with an assigned vehicle they have to go to the office where you now pay them to drive to the site. Same thing at the end of the day, it can easily take an hour of productive time away.

 

You end up paying $15 or more in salary to avoid a gallon of gas.

Edited by Ugadawgs98
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So out of the several hundred county employees, approx. 60 are lower paid than others or so highly trained that they must be given a car to stay in their job? Are positions that require specialized training not protected by an agreement that the employee will stay one the job at least long enough to repay the training given? If not that would make sense. Enter into a contract or sorts to stay or pay back for the training you recieved.

 

Like I said in a position where an employee would be called out in an emergency it makes sense. Maybe even one person designated per Department that is the emergency contact.

 

All employees have suffered the changes such as furloughs, rising medical insurance premiums. On top of that these "other" employees suffer high gas prices to get to and from work.

 

It may be that a select few respond directly to the job site. I happen to know that is not the case in the Marshal's Department. If it is the case in other departments it could not possibly be every day. Are there measures taken to ensure that preplanning is done to decide who will need to go directly to a job site and on that day they take home a vehicle? Or are a select few given special treatment?

 

My question at this point is who is manning the store and making sure that this is done fairly? This along with the high salaries of a select few are disturbing to me as the commissioners talk about how the "money is just not there". It seems to be "there" to cover these very high salaries and it seems to be "there" to pacify employees that would otherwise walk away to another awaiting job that will give them a car to drive home. But it does not seem to be "there" to keep our animal shelter open more than 4 hours a day, not "there" to keep long time employees from being laid off, not "there" to prevent the reduction of services and threats of park closings.

 

An old question comes to mind that I believe was brought up during the last election. In these hard times, with a full time paid Chairman, why do we have such a high paid County Administrator? All Departments have Department heads, that in theory answer to the BOC. In times of smaller Govt. i.e. less money coming in does the middle man process need to just stay the same?

 

I am sure it is this way in many counties, but we were promised transparency and fairness. Are we getting those things?

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