Balanced Budgets and Paycuts?

So the leadership of Hollywood is patting itself on the back for presenting a balanced budget this year and most of the employees are breathing a sigh of relief that the budget is not being balanced on their backs again as it was in the previous four years.

But……

In looking at the schedule of meetings, there is an item on this Wednesday’s Agenda (http://agenda.hollywoodfl.org/cache/00001/184/AGEN%209-19-12.pdf_) at 1:45 pm where the Human Resources Director is recommending that the Merit Increases and Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) paid in 2012 be taken back from all of  the employees who received them.

What madness is this?

This is just an arbitrary cutting of employees pay. Who does this pay cut benefit? Where do the savings go? If the City has balanced the budget and doesn’t need this pay cut to close any budget gap why are they doing it?

So this is what the Commissioners mean by “Equity.” Let’s treat all the employees like they are (bad words go here).

#benefits #elections #fiscalurgency #budget #members