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 don’t personally know anyone in the private sector getting a bonus this year.(or last)
That's a small percentage of the surplus, and if the workers did help with savings then the bonuses are justified. Since Indiana is doing so much better fiscally than other states, I don't think there is too much reason to complain.
Federal workers get better pay and benefits, but that is not necessarily true at the state and local levels. Many state and local jobs don’t pay worth a darn. The real problem is cutting down the government at all levels, so that government only does what government is supposed to do - public safety and the courts.
Many of these state employees have taken a pay cut, had no raises, and pay more for their benefits don’t forget. .013% of the surplus to those who helped with the budget cutting isn’t a bad thing imho. Demonstrating some gratitude for those who do their job well above the average (okay, that might be a low bar considering) to show the slackers that performance pays is not too unreasonable a tool in any business environment.
If he could drive along the highway and hand the checks to every guy in the trench digging while the other four are leaning on their shovels, now that I would love to see also...
Obama should be as happy as a pig in shiite
Bonuses are taxed at the highest tax rate
merit, exemplary, doing jobs above average....none of that enters into it when bonuses are to go to most employees. It’s a give away of taxpayer money which has become all too easy for politicians to do. I’m opposed to it. Most public employees are way over compensated and should be giving more money back
you can tell the Statists lost the arguement when they change the language:
“taxes” have become “revenue”, “spending” now “investments”, “overtaxation” now “surplus”.
Republicans can love growing The State ,too .
“Many of these state employees have taken a pay cut, had no raises, and pay more for their benefits don’t forget.”
No, don’t forget the state employee. Who is that guy who pays for all of this? oh yeah...the taxpayer. I guess it’s ok to forget about him.
“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)”
No. Public sector wages should be in line with what it takes to attract the level of competence needed to run the bureaucracy. They are not easily fired as most private sector employees are, so that needs to be part of the compensation equation.
Which is why I mentioned “internal and external” audits.
You may not be familiar with these, but companies look inside and outside their own industries, inside and outside their own regions and, yes, inside and outside private/public sector markets.
You cannot analyze wages when you’re comparing only comptrollers within a particular public sector job, market, or region. You must compare to the COMPETITION, because it isn’t always the next municipal government, but maybe local manufacturing or service sector markets.
I stand by statements.
Been there.
Done that.
As a Hoosier I can tell you that Daniels has done more to relieve us of tax burdens than any other Governor serving today. Forgetting the taxpayer?? Do you know a damn thing about him and what he's accomplished since he took office, and the condition of our state compared to any other around us?
He lowered my property taxes both at my business and my home since taking office. This tiny, and when you are talking about the entire state I mean tiny, little bonus he is giving to some of the workers who helped make these massive cuts in size and waste its almost nothing in the grand scheme of things. Its my money we're talking about also, something that I get furious over when I see it being wasted like I do at the Federal level now.
Many posters seem to have a problem with any and all state workers, I have no idea what they are like in all states but not all of them are anywhere near the same as far as pay and benefits. Clumping them all together and implying they are all lazy scum doing nothing but sucking taxes for a living is childish.
Perhaps many here never thought about the scope of the infrastructure required to maintain an area the size of a state at all the levels needed, and what it would be like without most of these parasites so casually demonized.
The prisons, the road crews, the police, the national guard and thousands of other jobs performed by professionals every day that are clumped together and dismiss as lazy and worthless. Of course there are lazy, union backed sacks of crap working there, anyone can see that.
As someone that has been in more auto assembly, Tier I, and Tier II supplier plants around this country than I could count I will tell you that those tax sucking state employees are on average far more productive than any UAW, Teamsters, or AFL-CIO infected plant I've ever been to.
/rant
So I take it you’re expecting a bonus?
I own a tool and die business, and no one in my extended family works in the public sector either. Nice try.
“Nice try.”
You were waxing poetic about the hard working state employees, so I had to ask.
Still, as Gov. Daniels has gone in the right direction with your state on taxing and spending, you and he both are still wrong in thinking that public sector employees all deserve a “bonus” that effectively spends money that should be sent back to the tax payer.
That would have been the right thing to do, and I’m surprised that a business owner such as your self would miss something so obvious.
As a business owner I understand why bonuses are given to employees at different rates also, especially employees that have had no raises, most have had their pay actually cut, and are paying more for their benefits. Since my rates both here and at home have dropped and the state is now about $1.2B in the black I would much rather build up a kitty for a couple of years, especially with the way the economy is looking, than having them rebate me this year and raise the rates next like a sea-saw. Spending .013% of the surplus, not the budget but just the surplus, to bonuses for the employees that deserve recognition is well within reason. Government needs to be run like a business, Daniels understands that far better than most governors and its why we have the surplus we have. By giving someone a $500 or even the top $1k bonus who has worked hard to get us from where we were when he took office to where we are now is perfectly acceptable even to a penny pincher like me.
Then you can whack the number of courts you need to support. Those judges and their lackeys are not cheap to come by.
The surplus this year in Indiana came about because the government employees eliminated waste, fraud and abuse ~ AND found better, more efficient ways to do business for the public.
The state of Indiana had not raised taxes to suck more blood out of the hard-pressed public. They did a commendable job. Mitch recognized them the way the law provides.
Failure to recognize their substantial "beyond the call of duty" effort would be the same as stealing from them.
It's really stupid to be niggardly with folks who just saved you money and gave you back more than you gave them!
Didn't Jesus teach you that?
The only thing I can say is that you must have completely misunderstood what I said.
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