Thursday, July 22, 2010

Plush Perks for Politicians and Public Employees


These are tough times for local government, because they are tough times for the economy. People without jobs cannot buy products and services, and the over-reliance on sales tax revenues to fund local government is generating less revenue than in past years. Much has been done to reduce expenses and attempt to maintain services, and most elected officials and public employees have been willing to continue with frozen salaries and reduced overtime pay. However, a few bad apples continue to draw deep from the public purse for their own convenience and act as if they are entitled to special treatment from the lowly taxpayers.

Some of our state's highrollers have been pinched lately when it became known that they were driving high-dollar vehicles for personal business at taxpayer expense. Some have since given up their state car, and others have started paying income tax on the benefit. House Speaker Robbie Wills told everyone to kiss his ass, that he was keeping the Tahoe and not paying back anything. In addition to state elected officials, more than 400 state employees have been paying taxes on the use of a state-owned vehicle to commute to and from work, get groceries, take the kids to school, and hundreds of other personal uses at taxpayer expense. How many state employees have personal vehicles provided by the taxpayers is unknown, but a lawsuit filed last week seeks to put an end to this practice.

The local media have shown little interest and devoted almost no effort to check on how many county and city officials and employees are getting these personal vehicles at taxpayer expense. It was reported last year that Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards and her chief flunky, Dan Short, got brand new Dodge Durango SUVs as a $50,000 gift from county taxpayers. How many other county officials and county employees have personal use of county vehicles, and do they pay income tax on this freebie?

Neither Mayor Jordan nor Don Marr get city vehicles for personal use. One of Jordan's first moves was to decline the $500 a month car allowance that the former mayor got from taxpayers. None of the other elected officials -- City Clerk, City Attorney, or City Council -- have cars provided by the taxpayers. The question that remains unanswered is how many passenger vehicles does the city own, and how many of these are assigned to employees for their personal use? Let's have some answers. Let's have some open government disclosure about who the taxpayers are buying cars for and which employees are paying income tax on this luxury service in hard times. Do you think Ray Boudreaux has a car at the executive jetport that he used for courting the Councilwoman? Parking these little perks would be better than furloughing employees so the big shots can continue to cruise in style.

What about the other cities and counties? What do Steve Womack and David Bisbee drive? What about school district employees? What about the University of Arkansas and its holding company, the Athletic Department? How many administrators are getting the free ride whiles faculty and staff salaries are frozen for two years? Is David Gearhart's rig as nice as Jeff Long's or whoever is supposed to be the basketball coach? It's not like they couldn't afford to buy a car with those inflated salaries.

I don't get paid enough to ask these questions, which would require the effort of making a few phone calls and the patience to endure the everlasting run-around, and I have given up waiting on the Northwest Arkansas Times to act like a real newspaper. The Fayetteville Flyer and Ozarks Unbound have a clear field if they want it.

11 comments:

  1. Clearly if a benefit or perk is taxable then it's income. Arkansas and the counties set limits on what officials can be paid. If they are getting perks and benefits the IRS considers taxable then they're being overpaid. This is beyond writing about. It's time for a taxpayer lawsuit. Let them use their own vehicles and get reimbursed.

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  2. You're assuming that all the publicly owned vehicles are in the hands of greedy pricks. Some intelligent poor folk who have never gotten to drive an expensive new car with air-conditioning that works and seat that don't stink like the previous owner might run for office or apply for a big-time job if they can expect a free ride with air-conditioning and a consistent paint job and maybe do the right thing while in office.

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  3. When you get to looking at University vehicles, please do a spreadsheet that shows the number of personal vehicles gifted to employees making more than $100,000 and those making less. You might also note if any of them are assigned to people who actually teach students.

    Most employees have to use the bus, anyway, since the University charges such high parking fees to those who have the privilege of cleaning the buildings and doing the teaching.

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  4. Could this be happening here?

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  5. The bureaucrat's (and union men and fat cat execs) attitude is "I got mine, I don't care about you or what it does to the system." If in getting theirs, it would cause dire consequences for the larger system (the municipality's or corporation's finances) they don't care, especially the unions and bureaucrats.

    Read up on the UAW union's health benefits and then the job banks setup. They both played a major role in bankrupting the car companies. The UAW didn't need to worry about the car companies being run into the ground though, as there's the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. (federal safety net for pensions) to keep those gravy train pensions rolling.

    These bureaucrats are the same kind of parasites. They will bleed that golden goose dry until it collapses.

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  6. Oh puleeeze...
    Unions are to blame when CEOs get millions in yearly bonuses just for their very own selves? Get real.
    Unions take care of thousands of families not just the guy at the top.

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  7. "Could this be happening here? "

    Another useful stat--the salaries of our top municipal and county officials compared to that of the average resident.

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  8. The city and county could soon be facing similar lawsuits for illegal extraction. No one voted for sales and property tax increases so some bureaucrat could have a free car for personal use, and that seems where our money is going. Park'em, Danno.

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  9. Anon 10:49, unions bankrupting the car companies? I doubt that the morons who for decades designed gas guzzling 4WD clunkers and the attendant macho marketing campaigns -- while foreign companies were designing and building fuel efficient hybrids -- were card carrying UAW members. You can blame that on the management team, not the workers.

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  10. There has still been no accounting of which NWA county and city officials and employees are driving around at taxpayer expense. The local newspaper gang are much more concerned about a nonexistant festival coordinator than they are about this massive potential for abuse.

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  11. "Anonymous said...
    Oh puleeeze...
    Unions are to blame when CEOs get millions in yearly bonuses just for their very own selves? Get real.
    Unions take care of thousands of families not just the guy at the top."

    Wow are you that out of touch with reality that you actually believe that. Unions have been a huge detriment to our society for years. They served their purpose for a while but not only serve to drive the cost of products up,up,up with their insanity. Our country is where it is at today because of Unions and people like you!

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