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Global Privatization: Greece Prepares to Sell Off State Assets to Get Loans

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BREAKING NEWS:

State budget plan in jeopardy as labor deal falters

 

***At Risk, Municipal Aid and Property Tax Increases***

 

Concession Package On Life Support After ‘No’ Vote

AFSCME unit rejects concessions, making ratification unlikely


With givebacks in doubt, Malloy and legislators face new fiscal gap

 

Malloy again warns of town aid cuts if labor deal falls through

 

 

 

 

 

From:  The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact:  Susan Kniep, President
Website:
http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

June 22, 2011

 

 

Collective Bargaining has given the State employee unions the tools to hold the State and its taxpayers hostage over the past several weeks as we have awaited the outcome of their votes on the lucrative contract offer by Governor Malloy of a 4 year job guarantee, 9% wage increase, and enviable health and pension benefits.

 

But it now appears that those lucrative benefits were not enough.  The unions are greedy and they want more and they want you to pay for it.   This morning’s headlines AFSCME unit rejects concessions, making ratification unlikely  and

With givebacks in doubt, Malloy and legislators face new fiscal gap, are an indication of what is to come as   Malloy again warns of town aid cuts if labor deal falls through.   A cut in municipal aid will lead to  increased property taxes.  It could also result in many municipal employees losing their jobs. 

 

Governor Malloy should follow the lead of Governor Walker of Wisconsin and end Collective Bargaining.  Imagine the concept of ending the power of the State Employee Unions and giving it to those whom we elect to State office who should be in control of our state personnel, its finances, and the State Budget. 

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John Lender of the Hartford Courant is to be commended for his article captioned   Officer Fired For Alleged Overtime Fraud Collecting $73,800 Pension which provides insight into the problems at the State.

 

 Highlights of John Lender’s article include the following: HiH

  • State Employee:  Lieutenant on the police force of state mental hospital
  • Reason for March, 2011 Termination:  Internal investigation concluded that he had put in for 528 overtime hours that he didn't work
  • Annual Base Pay: $84,759
  • 2010 Salary and Overtime:  $175,496
  • Eligible to Retire: At age 42, after 21 years and one month because state employees in law enforcement and other "hazardous duty" jobs can retire after 20 years of service regardless of their age..
  • Pension:  $73,800 – First monthly pension check for about $6,150 issued April 30, 2011
  • Benefits to Spouse:  50% of Pension upon death of state employee
  • Health Benefits for State employee and spouse: Lifetime state health insurance benefits

 

Read John Lender’s complete article at http://articles.courant.com/2011-06-19/news/hc-lender-column-fired-policeman-pens20110619_1_retirement-and-pension-fraudulent-overtime-high-paying-state-job

 

When reviewing the aforementioned regarding the state employee, it is interesting to reflect on the following written in 2008:  CT News Junkie | Ethics Reform Including Pension Revocation Passes 

 

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Additional Information on the Union Contracts, their status, and more...

 

 

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US Mayors' Conference Sees End to Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as Fix for Struggling Cities (Michael Cooper / Wall Street Journal)  Local governments shed 28,000 jobs last month, the Department of Labor reported, and have lost 446,000 jobs since employment peaked in September 2008.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18cities.html?_r=1

 

 

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In Connecticut, 

The Lien Holder To Fear is Your Town!

 

Those who pay off their mortgage have the misconception that they own their home.  This is not necessarily true.  Instead they have gone from one lien holder to another – their town which can put in motion a process to force delinquent taxpayers from their homes through a Tax Lien Sale.  

 

Those who have a mortgage, in essence, have two lien holders – the bank and the town.  The town charges an interest rate on unpaid property taxes of 18% and no government agency is going to bail out the elderly, the unemployed and others who are burdened with steady property tax increases they cannot afford.     

 

When real estate went bust, bankers got rich while many lost their homes.  In Connecticut towns, public employees are reaping lucrative benefits at the expense of  homeowners who cannot afford their property taxes, 80% to 90% of which are dedicated to Town and Board of Education employee wages, healthcare and pensions.  Property tax increases are driven by increased benefits through Collective Bargaining.   

 

A case in point is that described within the article by John Lender captioned Officer Fired For Alleged Overtime Fraud Collecting $73,800 Pension  

 

And it will get worse as the nonpartisan State Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) in their recent report declared that they lack the information to verify the alleged savings in the state employee union contracts which Governor Malloy negotiated guaranteeing 4 years of job security and a 9% wage increase to state employees along with enviable health and pension benefits not found in the private sector. 

Where Malloy’s budget is built on speculation, union contracts are legally binding documents.     With a lock on state union wages and job guarantees and the OFA’s inability to find the savings within the union contracts negotiated , Malloy’s limited resources could ultimately result in a cut to municipal aid and in turn a significant increase in property taxes next year and in years thereafter. 

As Governor Malloy’s approval rating sinks to 38%,  Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker accomplished a major victory for taxpayers through the State Supreme Court’s ruling last week giving him the authority to end the collective bargaining rights of State employee unions.  This in essence is a transfer of power from Wisconsin State employee unions to those whom voters elected to state office.  Wisconsin’s Governor and State legislature now have the ability to manage their State’s finances and personnel to the benefit of Wisconsin taxpayers and the State as a whole. 

Therein is the contrast between Governor Walker, and the self-proclaimed Son of Organized Labor, Governor Dan Malloy, who has relinquished his control of our State to the state employee unions.

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The Following Video is Listed on the Website

http://www.pensiontsunami.com/

 

VIDEO: Public Employee Unions vs. The Unorganized Taxpayers: There Will Be Blood

http://www.pensiontsunami.com/

 

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Yankee Institute Blasts SEBAC   Yankee Institute Blasts SEBAC As "Desperate And Paranoid'' - Denies Yankee Is Breaking Law On Labor Union Deals With Malloy; Asking For Apology From "Delusional'' Unions http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2011/06/yankee-institute-blasts-sebac.html

 

 

Jepsen Refers SEBAC Investigation To Auditors  Attorney General George Jepsen released a statement Monday afternoon referring the investigation of allegations made by the state employee unions regarding the Yankee Institute for Public Policy to the Auditors of Public Accounts. http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/jepsen_passes_on_sebac_investigation/

 

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New Alcohol Tax: Mean-Spirited Timing

CT Manufacturers Make Out in Senate Defense Spending Bill

 

OP-ED | Education Reform Left on the Table in 2011 Legislative Session

Op-Ed Columnist:  Who Is James Johnson? By DAVID BROOKS   June 17, 2011
For that reason, the
Fannie Mae scandal is the most important political scandal since Watergate. It helped sink the American economy. It has cost taxpayers about $153 billion, so far. It indicts patterns of behavior that are considered normal and respectable in Washington.  Read complete article at  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/opinion/17brooks.html?emc=eta1

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Gun-Running Sting Blows Up: House Hearings on ATF's Fast and Furious

 

 

Head of ATF Is Likely to Go    Wall Street Journal:The Justice Department is expected to oust the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a troubled federal antitrafficking operation that has grown into the agency's biggest scandal in nearly two decades. Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304453304576392023631543738.html

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In a front-page story, the New York Times reported Sunday that Justice Clarence Thomas may have been traveling on a billionaire developer's private jet and yacht without disclosing those trips on annual reports required of all judges.  Here is the NYTimes article….. Friendship of Justice and Magnate Puts Focus on Ethics  By MIKE McINTIRE http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19thomas.html?_r=1&hp&tr=y&auid=8535353

 

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Global Privatization: Greece Prepares to Sell Off State Assets to Get Loans
Read the Article at CNN

 

 

Companies Push for Tax Break on Foreign Cash
Read the Article at MSNBC

 

 

At Risk: US Weakens Nuclear Power Plant Regulations to Allow Older Plants to Stay Online
Read the Article at The Associated Press

 

 

The House of Representatives Is Run by Millionaires
Read the Article at The Washington Post

 

Sick Children on Medicaid Wait Much Longer for Care
Read the Article at Reuters

 

 


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Weiner’s Pension, Benefits Could Top $1 Million By John Stanton

Roll Call Staff June 16, 2011, 10:52 p.m.  Continued at http://www.rollcall.com/news/weiner_pension_benefits_million-206582-1.html

 

 

A damning indictment of the White House’s spineless foreign policy: Barack Obama gets the Kremlin’s vote for 2012  By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: June 20th, 2011 Continued at ….. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100092875/a-damning-indictment-of-the-white-house%E2%80%99s-spineless-foreign-policy-barack-obama-gets-the-kremlin%E2%80%99s-vote-for-2012/

 

 

 

Take a Look at Paul Ryan’s Personal Payday   By Emily Knapp

According to the congressman’s mandatory financial disclosure report to Congress, Ryan and his wife own stakes in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies Ryan advocated.

Ryan’s father-in-law runs the companies that are currently leasing land for mining and drilling to Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK), Devon (NYSE:DVN), XTO Energy, and a subsidiary of ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM). Ryan’s stake in these companies immediately poses a conflict of interest, especially when Ryan is lining his pockets with big oil money while expecting senior citizens, children, and the disabled to endure cuts to already underfunded programs.  Complete report at http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/take-a-look-at-paul-ryans-personal-payday.html/

 

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The Euro Zone, Edging Ever Closer to Complete Meltdown Paul Krugman "Martin Wolf, an economics commentator at The Financial Times wrote a very important column recently on the tough choices facing countries in the euro zone. 'The euro zone, as designed, has failed,' Mr. Wolf wrote on May 31. 'It was based on a set of principles that have proved unworkable at the first contact with a financial and fiscal crisis.'" Continued at ….. http://postonpolitics.blogspot.com/2011/06/euro-zone-edging-ever-closer-to.html



Sen. Bernie Sanders: Stop Oil Speculation Now  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/stop-oil-speculation-now_b_877739.html