Public employees in area risk revolt by taxpayers

"The days of fat are really over. The reality of it all is, you can't provide the service you provided 10 years ago." So said Girard Mayor James Melfi in talking about the challenges he and other elected officials in the Mahoning Valley are facing as revenues decline and expenses, particularly employee related, remain the same or increase.
"We're generally not interested in making wage concessions to keep more people working because we know layoffs are temporary things, where usually any concessions you make is viewed as a permanent thing. When we negotiate any new benefits, we assume it will be there forever and ever. ... We never go to the bargaining table looking to make concessions or givebacks." So said Kevin Powers, in-house legal counsel for the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, in explaining why the largest police union in the state would rather see officers lose their jobs than accept contract concessions.
Dire straits
Superimpose the comments from the mayor of Girard and the police union official and it becomes clear why local governments are in such dire straits. Given that employee costs -- wages, benefits, perks -- account for almost 80 percent of general fund expenditures, the question that must be asked is this: Don't public sector workers have an obligation to the taxpayers, who ultimately pay their salaries, to make the kind of sacrifices that have become standard operating procedure in the private sector?
We believe they do. As we have argued many times in this space, government treasuries aren't bottomless pits. There only is a limited amount of money, and if most of it goes into employees' pockets, then governments cannot provide any of the extra services that taxpayers believe they have a right to receive.
Indeed, in cities like Youngstown where the safety forces dominate government's payroll, other essential services, such as street resurfacing and building demolition, must be scaled back.
The extent of the problem confronting local governments was revealed in a package of news stories in the July 6 edition of The Vindicator. Reporters talked to elected officials, members of unions and experts on government financing, and the message that came across loud and clear is that nothing will change unless public employees adopt a new attitude.
They should disabuse themselves of the notion that the national economic downturn has no bearing on their public employment. They aren't an exclusive class of worker. Yes, some of them do provide a valuable service, but so do many in the private sector.
Strike threats
For their part, elected officials in the area should let it be known publicly that they aren't going to give in to pressure or to threats of strikes, and that things such as copayment of health insurance premiums, wage freezes and even givebacks will become the standard during the next round of contract talks.
County commissioners, mayors, city council members, township trustees, village council members, school board members and the trustees of Youngstown State University should attempt to reopen contracts now in an effort to persuade the unions to return a portion of the comparatively lucrative wage and benefits packages that they granted.
Private sector employees who have had to bite the bullet are no longer willing to pay higher taxes just so public workers can continue raiding government treasuries. And the citizenry certainly won't sit quietly while essential services are cut so government payrolls can be met.
No one is suggesting that public employees should not receive a fair wage, but huge raises during tough times are unfair and unjustified.