Pay More, Get Less (Taxes)

[randomq]

I wish I could find the slides from that "secret budget meeting" the council had. It was supposed to outline how much of the budget was personnel costs negotiated at the state level. Something like 75% of the budget? Some ideas to fix that:

1. Layoffs. We may not be able to control how much each position is payed, but we should be able to reduce headcount. If we had a mayor with a spine he'd start trimming the fat.

2. Get more from government employees: In exchange for these high paying jobs, we should expect things like studies, pool cleaning, soccer field designing, and cleanup/renovation of government facilities to be done in house, and not contracted out. How long did government employees sit on their thumbs waiting for someone else to clean the Pahoa pool? Remember the housing in Kea'au they couldn't use for evacuees because it was trashed and the employees responsible couldn't be bothered to clean it or fix a faucet?

Personally, I'm a fan of good hard working government, and I think they can get things done for the greater good that the market won't. So I would love to see number 2 work. But if no can, no can pay you.