This morning’s Daily Times has a front page story on the need to include Wicomico County Sheriff’s deputies in the Law Enforcement Officer Pension System (LEOPS). It’s a worthy goal.
Sadly, the article seems to place undue focus on Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt’s supposed efforts to accomplish this than the work of Lewis and his deputies to get this accomplished. Sheriff Lewis has been lobbying for this measure for years. Pollitt has bemoaned the constraints of the revenue cap.
Now that we are in an election year, Pollitt has convened a “blue ribbon panel” to study the matter. Quite frankly, I’m willing to bet that more Wicomico voters are concerned about this than whether or not we build a new civic center or library. Yet, those issues have been grist for Pollitt’s mill.
It was worthy of Pollitt’s time to attempt stealing farmers’ property rights. He’s spent plenty of time over the last 3 1/2 years telling us that we need to repeal the evil revenue cap.
Perhaps this issue can be properly disposed of before the end of Pollitt’s second term?
37 comments:
So they want more tax payer money so they can retire at 40 while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet ?
REVENUE CAP STAYS! POLLITT HAS TO GO!
Anon 1226 -
It's ironic that over 70% of voters approved Question A. I opposed it only because I don't agree with binding arbitration. My views were proven correct when the FOP's lawyer tried to get his hands on the county's reserve funds.
That said, I agree whole heartedly with putting our deputies into LEOPS. You may not, but just because a deputy could retire after 20 years of service doesn't seem to be a huge problem.
I wish citizens were more outraged over the spending at the WCBOE.
Democrat's math.....2+2=8 This way they know the low ball cost they ran on can be covered when the real cost comes in. They haven't earned the right to have more revenue to waste.
In order for the public to ever see cuts at the BOE level, the County Council is going to have to take action to cut what they give the BOE to spend. Until that happens the BOE will spend every dime they have. We need a post up on what the people feel they see as waste in the BOE.
GA, your articles on the waste at the BOE were great. However, not sure it stayed up front in the public eye. Once it goes off the top of the page, many readers do not scroll forward to look. The the Obamacare hit around the same time.
Unfortunately all this waste does start with the County Council. They decide who gets what and how much. The control and cuts need to start there. The Council could (if they choose) manage the BOE portion that they allocate for them and only give when and if they feel appropriate from my understanding.
GA I think people are sick of the BOE wasteful spending habits, but we cant keep those like slick rick in check...how the heck can we corral the BOE? Maybe if us citizens had some hope of containment or accountability it would bring hope, participation and then conclusion?
About the only thing I like about Pollit / agree with him over, is his dislike of the revenue cap. It is stifling growth and holding the county back. Do away with it and things will get better.
I agree with the first guy, keep the cap, get rid of Ricky. See Ya.
12:26, please look at the issue before you assume and jump to conclusions. LEOPS is wanted for two main points, 1st the disability retirement; the one the deputies function under is pathetic. It has nothing to do with retiring at 40; it is about being able to pay your mortgage that your family depends on. Right now if a deputy gets injured, (after 10 years of service to qualify) the county will pay them 60%, taxed and then you pay full medical coverage which ends up to be around 28% to 33% and then you can not earn $1 more or the deputy loses the benefits. That is completely opposite of what other agencies have. There are at least 5 deputies working right now that qualify to medically retire in LEOPS but are still working at WCSO. Do you work with the fear that the next call can end your ability to work and provide for your family? When you are running away they are running in and then end up losing everything because they got hurt protecting us.
2nd, the county will not be the ones running the system; it will be a larger more solid system. The deputies have had a tremendous difficulty getting information from the county regarding the funds and necessary figures.
G.A. Binding arbitration was wanted due to the fact that collective bargaining on its own does not mean that the council will have to agree with anything everybody wants. As you can see how the majority of the county council has turned its back on the workers and the citizens, would you expect them to do what the groupd wanted? Binding Arbitration is rarely used and it does not always favor the police. Most agencies who have it have only used it once in 10 years.
The burn out rate is incredible in law enforcement these days. It used to be 25 to 30 years, the latest reports show a majority of officers are burned out within 7 to 10 years, the health and family problems that plague this line of work is amazing.
Bottom line, we need to protect those who protect us and you get what you pay for....period. You want better law enforcement then give them better and demand better.
Pollitt has been behind the cause, the council broke it's promise long ago and have been the main opposition to the retirement.
1:45...the county council does not decide on "who gets what and how much".The Executive Branch submits the budget.The Council can only make cuts and suggestions for revision.
As to G.A.'s posting...take a look at how much the sherrif's budget allocation has increased in the past three years...you might be surprised.
While the Sheriff is asking for better benifits for his staff the WCBOE should give up their heafty pension and spending excursions there would be no revenue cap at all.
That voting took place when the economy was chugging along now is a different story .
1:56....that's water over the dam. The revenue cap is not the real issue right now.....falling real estate assessments would offset anything you did with the cap...the county missed the reals estate boom.
And the lack of any real fiscal restraint by this administration has made the situation far worse than it needed to be.The state is no longer in a position to bail us out.Yet we have continued to spend as though someone would pull a rabbit out of a hat.
Taking the revenue cap away....is like telling a crack addict to just do a little bit! They will go until it's all gone.
1:56 no one is stopping your from writing a chck to the county. If you feel so strongly get out your checkbook and make the donation. I am sure mr Pollitt and friends will be more than willing to spend it for you, say on a new bike path to no where, maybe? or something else they deem more appropriate like lunch for themsleves! you are a fool!
Your asking tax payers to supply them with a golden parachute .
2:43p Talk about writing a check to the county. Has Rick Pollitt and any of the members of the council written a check to the county to match the furlough days that were mandated to the employees? If so, who and when?
2:17p The majority of the members of the council did not turn their back on you all. How many times do you have to be told what was being proposed was "unconstitutional?"
What part of that don't you understand? Plus, didn't three members of previous councils sit with the state representative and some deputies to try and work this out with LEOPS? That was my understanding.
Rick
It's time you worried about the inside of the house rather than all of these real estate deals. It all starts on the inside. Learn to appreciate the good that the County has and quit dancing around core issues, allowing egos to control bad decisions, and wasting time and money.
Some of you really piss me off. How in the hell is it fair to take away a pension from someone that worked for almost 40 years with a signed contract and pension agreement. They held up their end of the deal, taught those that would learn. In the mean time, Wic. County BOE only funds 50% of salary, and not health care. Delaware funds 75 to 90% with health care. Wicomico County BOE does not have the Cadillic pension plan you all seem to believe. Retired people have earned it, payed into it, and it is just basic fairness. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel? On the other issue, sure the BOE is top heavy with adminstration positions that have been created for people who were not working out at their previous position, yes, cut out the expensive lunches, but leave those who did their part alone!
They are over paid if you are trying to find sympathy for union members good luck .They have had it made !
It's more important to pay for health care then over paid teachers .
I read with interest the article regarding our deputies. Each and everyone of them signed on knowing the pay and benefits package. It is fine for them to work to mske the pay and beneifts package better but not at the expense of everything else. The sheriffs office is begining to sound like the BOE and teachers. I do not wish to take from either one, however I do feel they are paid as a minimun what they agreed to when hired and in many cases more. In this county, according to the Sheriffs info. a 30 year deputy earns $#65.000 with retirement of $39.000 per year. This with a requirement of a high school education. I worked with a sister agency dealing with the same clients, was required to have a minimun of a 4 year degree, worked 34 years, retired making $52,000 with retired pay of $23,000. This in Wicomico county and am very pleased to have what I have. Would I have liked to have more Yes but not in cards. Problem today is we all want it all at everyone elses expense.
Cap stays and Pollitt stays
Everyone else has had to deal with pay cuts and lay off's I think the high paid union employee's can take a hit too !
LEOPS for deputies would require the County to take all the money the deputies put into their current retirement system and add a few million more (approx. 4 million) to pay into the State LEOPS retirement system. But by doing this would bankrupt the County's current retirement system, and the County would not be able to pay future benefits to it's retirees and that is not going to happen. Well, unless the County makes up the difference from the loss of these funds.
When there is less brain washing in school and less crime on the street I'll support your retirement fund !
LEOPS costs mucho dinero, something the Wicomico County just doesn't have.
If the Sheriffe office gets LEOPS so should the Dept of Corrections what is fair for one should be fair for both.
If teaching is such a over paid easy union job, why aren't you whinners getting the education and teaching? Maybe, because you could not cut it, or maybe because it is easier to blame someone who tried to help make you a better person, and you have let them down. It is nothing but envy and sourgrapes.
3:51 - Read your teacher contract!! The BOE pays 90 % of individual employee health care premiums and 73 % of family coverage. It has been this way for at least 10 years!
BOE also pays 75 % of your health care premium when you retire! And you complain???
No more money, they need to tighten
thier belt just like us taxpayers have too
For all of you saying they signed on they know what they were getting. Well you know what your getting by living in this county I guess you could just move to another state. I believe you will see more experienced Officers leaving for greener grass and you will still be living in the county paying for new Officers with your taxes.
Sadly enough LEOPS has always been an issue. There is no question that LEOPS should be provided for the Deputies. It was voted on and the the voters made their wishes known. The real problem exists when you start to peel back the layers of cover that this county been putting up as a smoke screen all these years to hide the activities of previous councils. If you dig into it you will learn that most county employees pay into a retirement system of some type. As part of the deal the county agreed to pay a portion into it as well - but they haven't - not what they agreed to pay. The county hasn't been living up to their end of the deal for a long, long time. If they had been, the funds would have been there to buy into LEOPS. The county is operating a Ponzi scheme. They are paying retirees from the money that current workers are putting in rather than what the retirees invested over the years. The retirement system for the county should be audited and the results made public.
Yes. Rick needs to go. Many featherbed positions at the BOE need to be eliminated and and elected BOE needs to be established as well as an elected Superintendant. There is still a huge amount of fat to be cut from county expenditures and that means shrinking the size of the county government.
How did this lead to bashing the BOE. We all know that the BOE wastes huge amounts of money. The BOE and their benefits are completely different then the Sheriff's. The BOE has a great disability and retirement. The BOE got a pay raise when all other employees got a pay cut. We all know changes need to be made in the BOE. That is why I sent my children to private school.
This situation, the article, and the referendum were done for one reason. The cops here have no disability. How can we expect them to do their dangerous job, while knowing in the back of their head, if they get hurt, their family is bankrupt and living in section 8?
We all know "they signed on to it." So what? We should do everything we can to take care of these guys when, not if, they get hurt. Most of these guys were 22, just out of college or the military, single, and invincible when they started. I remember being that young also. Having children, and growing up, has changed the lives of these guys. Would you rather that nobody “signed up” for the job? Then standards would go down and all of our safety would be affected.
This article was the first time I heard how poor the local cops disability package is. I assumed that in 2010, every government has a great disability for cops. I assumed it was at least 66% for life tax free. I thought that was a standard government expense. I am ashamed as a resident that we are not taking care of these guys.
The council should do everything in their power to fix this. I don’t care how, or if they use the plan they discussed. But they need to fix this now.
8:45 is an example of why education scores are going down .
If you cry baby free hand out teachers and cops don't like it here move on . Student scores are going down and crime is on the rise someones not doing their job !
10:06, If you knew about statistics and police work, a rising crime rate can mean that the beat cops are doing their jobs. How many arrests are listed on this site every day? What is the percentage of these that are for crimes that were not yet reported; therefore not on any statistic? Every drug arrest, every traffic arrest, every resisting arrest or peace disturbance crime, some assaults and other crimes in progress. If a victim does not call the police, or if the state is the victim; or if the police do not make an arrest on these cases, the crime rate goes down. Any rookie politician can use statistics to say anything that they want.
Almost all on view arrest make the "crime rate" go up because these cops are doing their job.
How many arrests were being made under the last administartion, with fewer cops due to furlough days? I think that the Deputies are doing a great job.
They also have no control over the courts or commissioners, some of whom think some of these crimes should not be crimes and are legislating from the bench.
Please try to be part of the solution, in stead of part of the problem. Police can not kill crime without the help of citizens.
If you feel strongly that some laws being enforced are not acceptable, contact your state legislator to get the laws changed.
The cops are sworn to enforce the laws that your representatives make, as long as they are within the guidlines of the constitution.
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