Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: A town in Illinois has a surplus after a year-long recession
This morning on NPR in Chicago there was a story about a little town in Illinois called Crestwood. In a time where the Governor of Illinois needs three billion dollars to keep the state afloat, Crestwood residents are getting as much as 36% of their taxes back because of a surplus.
That’s right, after a year of recession, Crestwood has money they can’t spend. NPR celebrated this little town, but I wonder, just exactly how do they manage it?
Turns out the town is making some pretty significant cuts. Other towns have fire departments with paid employees. Crestwood relies on a volunteer fire force to do the job. Other towns have full time police officers. Crestwood relies on a part-time force led by one full-time police chief.
Now, assuming that the rest of Illinois, and the rest of the country, can’t rely on volunteers alone (I can’t imagine what would happen if Chicago’s firefighters did not have trained, paid employees to organize the volunteers), part-time employees are the Crestwood example others may follow.
NPR thinks the same thing.
Using Crestwood as a starting point, they then have a business analyst sing the praises of part-time employment.
Now, it’s not like you get to pay for fewer hours of work just because the people working aren’t there all day. But you do get to pay for fewer benefits. Part-time employees aren’t necessarily entitled to vacation time, health benefits, pensions, the list goes on. There are more of them and their hours are less regular, so that pesky union organizing and collective bargaining happens less often. No wonder they are cheaper. But are these the kinds of cuts we want government to make?r
The people protecting Crestwood residents are undercompensated for their work or not paid at all. The people living in Crestwood certainly don’t have access to good municipal jobs with government benefits and consistent hours. The city has decided that, in order to cut costs, it’s essential services that must go. It doesn’t matter that essential services are those most used and most needed by the poorest town residents.
But in Crestwood they do get those property taxes back at the end of the year. That is if you own a house, which I doubt any of those part-time police officers can afford to do.
Was ist das?
I worked for over 40 years in the payroll profession. This article states that part-time employees aren’t entitled to vacation time, health benefits, etc. What it does not take into account is that even full-time employees have no legal entitlement to these things. There is no law saying that you are entitled to vacation time, sick pay, holiday pay, or any of the many other benefits that many employees think are their rights. The only thing that is required by law is that your employer pay you the minimum wage and time and one half of that rate for any hours worked over 40(not including any holiday or sick paid hours) in a stated 7-day week. So many people think that their employer is required to furnish them with coffee breaks, lunch breaks, vacation pay, holiday pay (time and one half or double time if actually worked).
drewski, I actually live in Marietta. Just South of Kennesaw. Kennesaw Mountain is just a few miles away. This is considered to be Metro Atlanta. It’s actually a combined population of over 5 million people.
And yes, I shall prove you wrong. This area and surrounding area is very, very, very gay tolerant. Atlanta and the surrounding area has a gay population that rivals SF and NY. At one time the majority of the gay population lived within the perimeter (I=285) and specifically within Midtown.
Over the last decade more and more gays and gay couples have moved to the outer counties. Just to tell you how much the areas have changed. I live in Unincorporated Cobb. LOL, I hear the roosters crowing outside right now. Anyway, in the last election there was basically a 50/50 split for Obama and McCain. If you go into Marietta there are many, many small stores and restaurants. (ie – attracting your creative type that are as we know normally gay friendly) There are also two large theaters with theater companies. All in all, the entire area is pretty diverse and accepting.
P.S. – drewski, you know my area very well. I actually know your area pretty well as I was born and raised in Cincinnati. I graduated from Ashland College in Ashland, Ohio. I would say that this area is far more gay friendly than even Columbus, Ohio is.
It’s not an immediately “gay subject.” But then look back over the role of local government in the US, its role in creating and enforcing standards of inequality. Here in Cleveland, for example, the burning Cuyahoga provided the ammo for the Clean Water Act, and rental discrimination in Collinwood provided documentary evidence to get the Fair Housing Act passed.
Where have gay rights been recognized? Most likely at the local level. Partner benefits, like the dying cop in Jersey? That’s relevant to gays. SanFran or Boston or Chicago or Tacoma ackowledging gay families, even if “only” at the local level? That’s us. It matters because sometimes it’s government pushing the private sector to be real (and yes, sometimes it’s the other way).
Trace wants to play the classic stereotypical Southern man of the soil. That’s nice–but let’s remember ol’ Trace lives in Kennessaw, which is a northern suburb of the 4-million-plus city called Atlanta. Be as self-sufficient as you think you can be brother, but Trace, I know Atlanta well enough to know that it’s beginning to replace that unincorporated county territory (like De Kalb, in Toco Hills) with one incorporated suburb after another. Now, Trace, Virginia Highlands is very gay-friendly, and part of the city of Atlanta; Fulton and De Kalb counties are generally going to accomodate gays, at least to some degree. Marietta, and the rest of that godforsaken land to the north(-northwest) of the city, has some bad habits of being overtly anti-gay. Prove me wrong, my Southern brother. And there’s far more I can say…
Matt, Ruby-Sachs has shown over and over again that she has very little concern over facts.
Like many on the far left it’s all about feelings.
Ruby,
Regarding your last paragraph, at the very least you should actually check to see how many of the part-time civil servants in this town actually DO own houses. That’s basic journalism 101.
Censored, it’s seven degrees of separation.
It’s quite possible that one of the part time police officers or VFD members was gay. Or maybe they have a relative that is gay. Or maybe NPR was doing a gay story that was right next to the story about Illinois. Or maybe it’s because this town is in Illinois and Chicago is in Illinois. Chicago has a large gay population.
Or maybe it’s be cause Ruby-Sachs is a socialist that wanted to spread some propaganda.
First off why is this socialist diatribe even on this site? I come here to read news and events that apply to to the non-heterosexual community not to be socialized into accepting more socialism. Good for Crestwood. I know many small towns and rural areas that have VFD’s that are well trained and perform well. Granted there are a few logistic drawbacks but so does almost everything else.
This is not a gay subject…
This article boils down to complaining that part time workers don’t get similar benefits to full time workers, and that the society is basically taking advantage of a loophole. That may not seem right, but that’s a discussion about what’s fair compensation and perhaps about the runaway costs of US citizen workers, but, again, it’s not a gay issue.