January 31, 2010
And what about taxpayer morale? Or taxpayer money?

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is postponing by several months his promise to cut 200 senior management jobs in order to "boost employee morale"

The city general fund is facing a $40 million deficit.

Meanwhile:

Last year there were 983 senior positions in [Seattle] city government -- 327 more than there were in 2002.
Just for argument's sake:
320 jobs @ $125,000 gross = $40 million

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 31, 2010 11:03 PM | Email This
Comments
1. It's the new Microsoft-like growth industry in WA. Government jobs! Get yours today. No qualifications required.

Posted by: Jeff B. on February 1, 2010 05:13 AM
2. The Marxist Utopia of Seattle deserves the government it elects. Elitist fools celebrate their collective enlightment and superiority over the working classes by electing fools who spend their city into bankruptcy. Turn off the streetlights, Seattle, the party is over.

Posted by: Saltherring on February 1, 2010 07:37 AM
3. Localities just parrot what the feds do, and that is to spend us all into insolvency.

We don't have much time to right this.

Posted by: Gary on February 1, 2010 09:15 AM
4. To heck with employee morale, he should be concerned with taxpayer morale.

Posted by: MIKE336 on February 1, 2010 09:17 AM
5. For the 602,000 (approx) citizens in Seattle, that's only another $66 dollars per person.

That's no big deal, right?. It equates to giving up a latte every other week. If a family of four would skip two or three trips to Dick's, they can pay for their portion of this tax problem.

Absolutley no need for the city to cut back on anything or give up anything - taxation is not a hardship on Seattlites - it is their patriotic duty - or else.

Posted by: SouthernRoots on February 1, 2010 09:53 AM
6. You know the local government too well, SouthernRoots: "for just the price of a latte!"

They count on individuals continuing to ignore the possibility of death by a thousand cuts. At this point, Seattleites have forgone HUNDREDS of lattes, each of which will "only cost families a few bucks a year." And that's not a problem until you stack all these "only"s about a mile high, as Seattle/King are doing.

Posted by: gulliver on February 1, 2010 11:25 AM
7. Incrementalism, I think they learn that in government school, along with the general fund shell game (pet projects here, ballot tax increases for everything else you want). Lesson #3, how do we get non-residents to pay for this? Answer, hotel taxes, parking fees, car rental taxes....

Posted by: Palouse on February 1, 2010 12:37 PM
8. Do you think the slaveowners in the old South gave a thought about the morale of their slaves?

They are democrats for a reason. That's the party that encourages this kind of thinking.

Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on February 1, 2010 01:03 PM
9. I am so glad Stefan is posting again! Your city/state/country needs you! yay!

Posted by: AD on February 1, 2010 04:30 PM
10. Seattle and all municipalities in the state of Washington should take a page from the folks in Colorado Springs.

Yes We Can!

Posted by: Dufus McBroke on February 1, 2010 05:51 PM
11. The job of government is not to create government jobs. It is to serve the people. In doing so, some government jobs will be created along the way. But those jobs are not to be preserved when the people don't have the money to keep them going.

Posted by: Yosemite Sam on February 1, 2010 08:15 PM
12. Almost a thousand managers? For what? I think the whole world has gone insane! There is no accountablility for anything.

Posted by: mark on February 1, 2010 10:58 PM
13. When a person starts adding up all the "just 1 latte/month" tax increases...pretty soon we are talking about a house payment.

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on February 2, 2010 03:25 PM
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