Barnett touched on payroll, Sandack touched on payroll, and when the topic came to payroll, council is deciding DARE and two police positions (or their equivalent in dollars somewhere else) are to be cut. Both Neustadt and Durkin weighed in against cutting two Police Protection positions, and the Police local also weighed in against it. After the break, comparisons of Police and Fire Department staffing and wage levels.
The source for the data used is as of 2007, and is available at city-data.com. There may have been hirings and retirements since then, but all five municipalities are fielding the same group of information, so it is apples to apples. The village may have further refined breakdowns between union and supervisory personnel. The budget appendix, for example, lists wages for non-union personnel. You can click on any image for a larger version.
The same five munis are used here that have been used in previous posts.
This graph shows both support staff and positions directly related to protection.
This graph shows both union and non-union combined for average wages of police directly involved in protection. It also shows both line and supervisory support combined for average wages. It appears our union and administrative personnel combined average wage is higher than comparison communities.
Staffing of support and protection personnel.
This graph shows both union and non-union combined for average wages of fire department personnel directly involved in protection. It also shows both line and supervisory support combined for average wages. It appears our support personnel have higher than average wages, and that the union and administrative personnel combined average wage for protection personnel is roughly in line with comparison communities.
Police and Fire Department Raw data compiled from www.city-data.com
As a cost saving venture the village should look into closing the library at 5:30 on Friday Nights. I think everyone would agree it is a ghost town (library)in there on Friday nights.
Maybe we should compare the crime stats of these towns? I know it’s a budget discussion but if there is increasing crime then there is the need for police protection. Grown men (not homeless) on street corners in the middle of the day is NEVER good.
Not much here. Mt. Prospect crime data was not up. Bottom line, Suburbs pretty safe; Chicago, not so much…
not surprising our per capita expenditures for both police and fire protection, appears due to payroll, is on the very high end of our peer group. The question is why? is it excess bodies, excessive equipment expenditures, or average pay per fire/pd staffer?? don’t know, but something has to give.
God for bid the union actually address their unsustainable retirement benefits, but boy when it comes to not cutting heads…they certainly know how to speak up. The Unions should be part of the solution, but right now they want nothing to do with helping out in this crisis.