Even as I was anxiously watching the election results in Wisconsin last night, and the strong message the Badger State sent to the country, residents and employees of North Miami Beach were lining up before the City Council to tell them that a potential two million dollar savings wasn’t enough to even consider contracting out our sanitation department. Considering that property tax revenues in our city amount to a grand total of ten million dollars a year, an additional 20% of those revenues would do wonders to help dig our city out of the hole. And yet, it seems as if some of the residents in NMB have no clue what’s going on around the country, much less their own backyard.
Last night, Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker victory over public union efforts to recall him by 53% to 46% of the vote sent several clear messages. First, that his reforms are working, and second, that most voters aren’t stuck on stupid. As reported by Forbes, in Governor Walker’s Victory Spells Doom for Public Unions,
“The projected cost of supporting Baby Boomer union retirees now threatens to bankrupt the state, as it does many others. Scott Walker ran for office promising change. The fiscal medicine he is administering may be bitter, but it looks like it is starting to work. The state budget has been balanced. The unemployment rate has been dropping and is now below the national average. Property taxes are down. Fraudulent sick leave policies—which allowed employees to call in sick and then work the next shift for overtime pay—have been ended. The government has stopped forcibly collecting union dues from workers’ paychecks.
Best of all, the myth that union bosses represent their members’ interests has been exposed as a lie. Now that union dues are voluntary, tens of thousands of union members have stopped paying them. Membership in the Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) has dropped by half. Membership in the stat’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is down by over a third. Given unions’ influential role in most elections, the national implications of this trend are staggering.”
“The power of private sector unions was long ago broken by many heavily unionized companies going bankrupt. While this was painful for both workers and shareholders, the economy motored on as nimbler non-union competitors picked up the slack. This approach is problematic for the public sector because bankrupt state and local governments cannot be replaced by competitors waiting in the wings.”
The bad news is that public sector unions are bankrupting cities all over. The good news is that the citizens are waking up and fighting back. In an article today, Fiscal Sanity is Contagious: California Cities Pass Pension Reform, California GOP Chairman Tom del Beccarro stated,
“The Election results tonight in both California and Wisconsin prove that voters have an appetite for government reform. In two of California’s largest cities, voters passed substantial pension reform. Perhaps most interesting is that this wasn’t a partisan cry for reform; even in a large city such as San Jose which has heavy Democrat registration, taxpayers stood up against union bosses and big government. Governor Brown and the Democrats in California would be wise to listen to the voters.”
Since I write this blog mainly for local politics and I try my hardest to stay away from partisan issues, I only bring up political parties when it’s pertinent to what’s going on in North Miami Beach. The reason yesterday’s election results are relevant are not because Governor Walker happens to be a Republican, but his victory yesterday underscores that people are tired of fiscal irresponsibility. As restate.com reported in The Whupping in Wisconsin: Seven Key Conclusions, “The first thing we can conclude is that defense of public sector unions is now a non-starter even in the birthplace of American progressive politics. Union voters voted for Scott Walker. Republicans have a new battle tested issue that sells well even in blue states.”
It’s high time that the residents of North Miami Beach realize that fiscally sound union contracts must be negotiated and substantial pension reform must be passed if we are to see any kind of economic recovery in our city. If we want to dig ourselves out of the tremendous hole into which previous administrations dug for us (and more about those dudes will be forthcoming in a later blog), the current Council must be supported in their endeavor to save us from drowning in debt. Whether or not we privatize our sanitation department all depends on what concessions the employees’ union, ASFCME, is willing to offer. I have not yet watched the council conference meeting from last night, but from what I’ve heard so far, it appears that they’re far from serious about negotiating in good faith. As soon as the meeting comes online, I’ll get back to you with all the gory details.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
