Posted on 07/15/2011 11:56:11 AM PDT by Abathar
INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels is dipping into the state's $1.2 billion surplus to give bonuses to most state workers.
Daniels said Friday that most state workers will get bonuses of $500, $750 or $1,000 based on their performance over the last year.
The bonuses will total between $15 million and $20 million.
State Auditor Tim Berry reported Thursday that the state ended the year with $1.2 billion in cash reserves. Berry called state workers "heroic" for their efforts to save money.
Daniels said Friday that the rest of the state's surplus is likely to be socked away rather than spent to replenish cuts to education and health care made over the last year.
He cited a stagnant economy and lagging tax collections for his decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...
"I've been trying to educate the poor fellow for a long time, and I just give up. The Indianapolis Star said it best today. He bankrupted the state the last time he was in charge, and he hasn't learned a thing in the intervening years," Daniels said. "I thought he might have learned something during the weeks he spent in Illinois, where they do what he proposes for Indiana, and they're broke, and so I guess maybe some students aren't as educable as others.""
LOL!! What a nice public spanking, couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow either!
I might not agree that the state employees should get a bonus for doing their jobs, but having a $1.2B surplus during times like these is sure nice even with the cuts. Now all us Hoosiers can point and laugh at our neighbors, especially those to our west.
There is no such thing as government surplus. It is, factually, overtaxation. The “surplus” rightfully belongs to the taxpayers and should be in the form of lower taxes or refunds.
If it's really on the basis of job performance, I've got no problem. Superior work deserves superior pay, both in the private and public sectors.
That was my thought, why not return it to the taxpayers.
Ummm... He just gave away your tax dollars they didn’t need.
Yeah !
/s
I like the idea of a bonus, rather than a salary increase. Bonus is one time only, and doesn’t become a structural budget liability. Plus, it give the employees something other than “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”
As for the smackdown of Bauer, it was great! Bauer is such a sleazy democrat hack, it’s nauseating to see him on TV with that nasty piece of roadkill he wears on his head.
Bauer and his cronies had the state literally within hours of default five years ago. It was a mess Daniels inherited and he had to steal money from the counties’ COIT reserves to keep the state solvent (it was later “paid back” as an “excess distribution”). But like Daniels or not, turned the mess around and he’s kept the books balanced. How unlike another public executive who claims he inherited a fiscal mess, but has only made it worse.
Considering that public sector employees get better pay and bennies than their private sector counterparts, hows about we just tell the folks in the public sector that they get to keep their great wages and bennies, and give the surplus back to the people who generated it?
“That was my thought, why not return it to the taxpayers.”
So, when the economy goes sour and revenues fall, you make up the shortfall by increasing taxes? I’d rather have a stable and predictable tax structure with a nominal surplus to cushion against revenue loss. This is what a good business does. Don’t we normally want our government run on the basis of sound business practices?
If the surplus continues to grow, lower the rates. But don’t start cutting checks to the taxpayers, and then ask them to pony up in lean times.
>> There is no such thing as government surplus.
Lighten up, it’s “revenue” - they earned it. /s
that’s just crazy talk!
Performance pay? for what? who’s “the competition” to The State?
If a surplus is spent.. its no longer a surplus..
They return to the taxpayers any surplus in excess of 10% of the state budget. Seems prudent to me, so long as they don’t go overboard with budget incrases....
All workers should be paid a fair wage, but who is actually getting those bonuses? The article doesn’t say (quality reporting, I’m sure). If it goes, as I suspect, to only the higher-ups (salaried), and not to the lower echelons (hourly, I’d be against it. In these times it’s the lower paid workers that are having to really stretch their dollars. Those making over $100,000 are not suffering as much as those trying to to get by on $12 an hour.
I’m not sure when bonuses for public employees became acceptable. You plundered more money from the taxpayer than you needed so you get to give it away? I don’t get that.
What does Government “produce”?
It provides protection and safety (cops and fire), courts and teachers, but what do the other 75% of Government bureaucrats “make”.
Nothing. Zero. They are on the expense side of the ledger, for life, with big fat pensions they didn’t pay for and great healthcare programs that would cost the private citizen $10-20K per year, which they and their families get for free.
Nice work if you can get it.
Nope, he’s made some very major cuts and I don’t begrudge having a year or two of surpluses in the bank before the tax rates drop to balance things out, not in this economic climate. The bonuses are not excessive in my opinion, if they’re deserved and based on performance then I can live with that.
Allowing them to build up a kitty by way of cuts while not raising taxes for a couple of years might just make all the difference with the sh*tstorm that’s coming from Washington.
My only worry is Pence losing and some idiot Democrat flushes it all down the toilet though.
If those bonuses are based on merit for an employee who is doing exemplary work I don’t begrudge it, public worker or not. These are not large bonuses either, it would be interesting to see the list of who gets them and what they did though.
Agreed.
My Indiana company made signifacant personnel cuts in the pat three years and that left the rest of us to keep up with the work. Last year was a fantastic year and we got our best bonuses in the history of the company.
Public sector wages and benefits should be in line with those of the private sector, or else you’re at risk of losing talent or overspending (either way). Big corporations hire analysts to perform internal and external wage and benefit audits to determine what the market is paying.
If Indiana state employees have earned a bonus (and $1000 doesn’t sound big, depending on the salary), the so be it. I don’t hate public employees, I just think they should neither be kings nor slaves.
I think it is reasonable to expect employees to do exemplary work for their salary and benefits. The idea of merit pay for public employees is ridiculous. There is no profit, no competition and plenty of people standing in line for the jobs not to mention better than average compensation packages to start with..
The problem with bonuses for gub’mint employees based on job performance is that it can quickly turn into a partisan bonus.
Just remember the pendulum swings both ways. Put a lib in charge, and bonuses will be flying fast and furious for those who support the lib agenda.
It stinks.
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