Washington D.C. Area Cutting Public Services and Eying Tax Increases to Deal with Budget Shortfalls But Still Giving Raises to Public Sector Employees
Fairfax only local county not giving workers a raise
Washington Examiner - Communities across the Washington area are cutting services and eyeing tax increases to deal with budget shortfalls they face next year, but only Fairfax County says it won't have the money to give its employees a raise.
County Executive Ed Long said he couldn't fund pay increases next year, in part because of "the combination of anemic revenue growth and increasing requirements for services" that would've left the county with a $169 million hole in its 2014 budget -- a shortfall expected to grow to $274 million in 2015.
The county's 12,000 employees did receive a raise last year that cost the county $50 million.
But other local leaders in Virginia and Maryland are not following Long's lead. Arlington County and Alexandria in Virginia and Prince George's and Montgomery counties in Maryland have built pay raises into their 2014 budgets.
"We're asking our employees to do a lot," said Thomas Himler, Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker's budget chief. "We're offering something positive on the wage adjustment -- we should still net an increase."Baker last week offered a budget proposal that provides about $18 million for raises, enough to give each of the county's 6,000 workers about a 3.5 percent raise, but the county executive also announced that each employee will have to take five unpaid furlough days next year.
- Arlington is taking away a paid holiday -- Columbus Day -- and eliminating 46 positions, but officials there have dedicated about $3.6 million to raises for the county's 3,500 workers.
- Alexandria budgeted about the same amount for its 2,500-person workforce, though any increase for city employees will be tempered by higher health care and pension costs.
- Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett proposed pay increases for county employees totaling nearly $32 million, which includes a 13.5 percent increase for more than 5,000 county union workers. It's the first pay increase most workers have seen in four years.
Long also proposed a massive overhaul of Fairfax's payroll system that could ultimately reduce future pay increases. Workers are now eligible for cost-of-living raises and performance raises each year, but Long is proposing giving cost-of-living increases only in odd-numbered years and performance raises only in even-numbered years.
Fairfax hasn't ruled out an employee pay raise for next year, said Supervisor Pat Herrity, R-Springfield. But the County Board of Supervisors is now examining agency budgets looking for cuts and plans to use any savings it find to reduce or eliminate the 2-cent property tax increase that Long proposed. Supervisors would consider raises only after they resolve the tax issue, Herrity said.
"It's important not to let us fall behind," said Paula Woodrum, president of the Fairfax County Government Employees Union. "We're working to get there."
Flashback: School board urges higher taxes to pay for pensions
Feb 20, 2010FCTA.org - FCTA board members attended today's Fairfax County Public Schools budget forum, held at Marshall High School.
The FCTA asked why the school board is urging the supervisors to raise taxes by $81.9M although only $9M is needed to pay for next year's expected increase in student enrollment.
The school superintendent acknowledged that the reason is the increased cost in employee benefits, especially pensions. According to the schools' proposed FY2011 budget, employee benefits costs are increasing by $98M, of which $71M is for pensions and another $15M is for retiree medical benefits.
The school board has been less than straightforward with the community about this. During her opening remarks at the forum, school board chairman Kathy Smith talked about cuts to band and sports, and bigger class sizes, but never acknowledged that the cuts were being made to pay for increased benefits costs. School board members urged the audience to ask the supervisors to raise taxes. If taxes are not raised, then the board will cut band and sports and increase class size to make the pension payments.
The problem is that while unionized county employees have pensions, most private-sector taxpayers do not. Is it fair to raise taxes to fully fund county pensions when taxpayers rely on 401Ks and those have lost value?
FCTA president Arthur Purves offered a solution based on President Obama's recommendation that employees accept lower wages so coworkers would not lose their jobs. Mr. Purves pointed out that $98M is about eight percent of next year's projected salaries.
If the school board cut salaries by eight percent, then they could fully fund the increased costs of employee benefits; pensions and retiree medical benefits would be preserved; there would be no layoffs; band and sports would not be cut; class size would not increase; and taxpayers, whose 401Ks have lost value, would not face higher taxes.
In response, school board member Janie Strauss stated that the board is already considering salary cuts. While there is great reluctance to cut salaries, one citizen asked if teachers would prefer keeping their jobs or keeping their pay and benefits. The superintendent responded that teachers were "50-50".
The FCTA urges citizens to ask their school board members and supervisors if they favor raising taxes to fully fund county union pensions when taxpayers themselves generally do not have pensions but have 401Ks that have lost value. Please forward responses to alerts@fcta.org so we can post them on www.fcta.org.
