FOR MANY YEARS FAIRNESS IN TAXES HAS SPOKEN AGAINST AND HAS WARNED OF THE DESTRUCTIVE IMPACT THAT THE UNREASONABLE BUDGET INCREASES WOULD HAVE ON OUR COMMUNITY. UNFORTUNATELY THOSE WARNINGS WERE MET WITH CYNICISM AND SARCASM YEAR AFTER YEAR. THE FOLLOWING IS A LETTER WRITTEN BY JIM TWEED, A FIT BOARD MEMBER, AND WAS PUBLISHED IN THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat, me worry?\u201d I\u2019m beginning to feel like the clueless face of Alfred E. Neuman smiling out from the cover of \u201cMad\u201d magazine. At least that\u2019s how the taxpayers of Ocean City must be seen by some. The millions of dollars in increases in pensions, health care costs, and contractual salary obligations are being treated as if it\u2019s news. It\u2019s only new if you have not been paying attention for the last 5 years. There have been voices warning us about this for at least that amount of time. They have routinely been dismissed as \u201cpockets of negativity,\u201d \u201cangry,\u201d or some other disparaging remark.<\/p>\n
After Ocean City\u2019s auditor, Leon Costello\u2019s presentation last Tuesday, those \u201cweirdo\u2019s\u201d now look like biblical prophets.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I wonder if anything will really change. Some will look for people to blame. That\u2019s much easier than finding a solution. It\u2019s also a waste of time. The leader we elected under whose watch all those contracts were negotiated has been gone for more than a year. We even named a new Public Works building in his honor. We\u2019re the ones that look stupid, not him.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the choices we make in the future that will make a difference, not the ones we made in past. But who\u2019s going to step up to make the \u201ctough decisions\u201d that Mr. Costello warned us about. It\u2019s not the professionals\u2019 jobs to do that. They just give us the facts. Our elected leaders decide what to do with them.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my prediction. No one from the Council or the Administration will step up. Councilmen have learned that those who try the hardest get burned the most. If you try to even talk about the roots of a problem Council chambers will fill with union members, testimony of tearful tales will be touted if meaningful efficiencies are proposed, and Councilmen will be inundated by phone calls from those who don\u2019t want their rice bowls even looked at too closely, let alone touched. Why will this happen? Because it works. The easiest thing to manipulate is peoples\u2019 fears. Of course Councilmen are going to be persuaded that the public doesn\u2019t want any changes in public safety. They\u2019re the ones who show up. The rest of Ocean City is too busy, too tired, too old, or too scared to attend Council meetings. They suffer quietly, maybe show up on Election Day, hope for the best, and go home. After the election they are the easiest ones to ignore.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been over a quarter of a century since \u201cdefined benefit\u201d pension systems began to be replaced with \u201cdefined contribution\u201d systems. Yet government employees are still on a different playing field than those in the private sector. They still contribute a fraction towards their own health care plans compared with the rest of us. Why? Is it because they work harder than you? Where in the private sector do you ever see anyone stand around to watch someone else work? Is it because their job is more dangerous? Tell that to a soldier serving in Iraq for much less money.<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s someone out there, either on Council or the Administration, who\u2019s willing to sacrifice their popularity in order to make tough choices please step forward.<\/p>\n
Jim Tweed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOR MANY YEARS FAIRNESS IN TAXES HAS SPOKEN AGAINST AND HAS WARNED OF THE DESTRUCTIVE IMPACT THAT THE UNREASONABLE BUDGET INCREASES WOULD HAVE ON OUR COMMUNITY. UNFORTUNATELY THOSE WARNINGS WERE MET WITH CYNICISM AND SARCASM YEAR AFTER YEAR. THE FOLLOWING IS A LETTER WRITTEN BY JIM TWEED, A FIT BOARD MEMBER, AND WAS PUBLISHED IN …<\/p>\n