Reader says As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed
Why have we made such generous promises on accumulated sick leave to municipal employees ? Ridgewood employees receive 15 sick days per year (vs. 3~5 for the average U.S. employee). Unused days may be accumulated at current pay levels until retirement, at which time retirees may elect to take half the accumulated days off with pay (up to 3-6 months, depending on department) or receive an equivalent lump sum payment at the much higher pre-retirement compensation level. The allowed sick days are in addition to generous vacations, with a starting vacation benefit for Ridgewood employees of 12-13 days, depending on department, which can grow up to a maximum of 31 days. This compares to median full-time U.S. workers receiving only 13 days of paid leave per year. The FAC recommended that the maximum number of permitted paid sick days be reduced from 15 to 7 days per calendar year, and that all sick days (up to a maximum of seven) must be used during the calendar year. Unused sick days should NOT be accumulated beyond December 31st of the same calendar year, in which they are permitted. Sick days should not be transferrable to another employee.
In practice it looks like unionized municipal workers automatically get their annual negotiated wage increases, PLUS annual step wage increases, cost of living adjustments, longetivity bonuses, etc. The STEP schedules rapidly accelerate employees’ base salaries every year, particularly in the first 10 years of employment. One Ridgewood Step Schedule for employees hired after 2010 starts at a base salary of $32,000 in the first year of employment. Under the schedule, the base salary increases to $81,971 by the end of the fifth year of employment. This represents an incredible 156% increase or a compounded annual rate of increase over 20%. This does not include the publicly disclosed 4.2% annual wage increase or a 2% bonus after year four. As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed. Although the agreements state that the annual increases are “not automatic”, employees expect them and, in practice, it is rare that they are not approved.
Yea start the new employee at $30,000 and then complain about how much of an increase in % he gets to actually get to a reasonable living wage…..the guy who posted this must really think a $30,000 income is a realistic living wage for this town. I would like to see him live in town on $30,000.00 a year.
#1: You have conveniently rounded-down the starting salary. Maybe that’s an insignificant point, but nevertheless, the key word is “starting” salary. Starting salaries are exactly that. They represent compensation for someone who is typically young and inexprienced. It’s EXACTLY the same concept used at any place of employment, including the private sector. You will see from the article that thi starting salary has almost tripled after 5 years. With the best benefits on top of that, including a pension, I’d say it was a pretty sweet gig.
Ok #2 I will round that salary up, explain how someone can live in this town on $40,000 a year. You can’t rent an apartment in this town for less than $24,000.00 a year that is more than half that salary. I bet you couldn’t live here on $40,000.00 a year for one year.
so what your saying is we should get rid of all the Village workers , because no one can afford to pay them enough to live in Ridgewood ?
How anyone can afford to live in Ridgewood with an income of less than $80,000.00 a year is beyond me.
Make that Bergen county, #4.
Who says you deserve to live in town just because you work here?
If you can afford a home in Ridgewood but you can afford the property taxes then something is way wrong with your budget and your living way above your income level. Time to make a budget and control your out of control spending on things you don’t need.
If you can afford a home in Ridgewood but you can afford the property taxes then something is way wrong with your budget and your living way above your income level. Time to make a budget and control your out of control spending on things you don’t need.
I hate to be so blunt, but I get the impression that such an inability to understand the basic economics of how compensation numbers are determined is exactly why you can’t get beyond $40,000 and live in Ridgewood.
#8 said….Who says you deserve to live in town just because you work here?
Who says you deserve to live in town if you can’t afford the property taxes?
I’ll tell you how you live in Ridgewood on $40k a year.
The same way I did 20 years ago on $20k, when I was in my 20’s.
1. Live at home with family until you can afford to move out.
2. Live with roommates.
3. Get a second job at night and/or on the weekends.
If our college graduate kids are living at home, living with roommates and working second jobs why wouldn’t we expect the same from everyone else?
What planet do you live on #13? Even with your “suggestions” assuming you could do all of them you still couldn’t afford to live in this town.
#12 How old were you when you moved out 45? I guess your parents clean your room , cooked for you and did your laundry. Then you hit the big time and moved into Ridgewood. If you can’t afford it anymore then you should follow your own advice. Pick 1, 2 or 3.
But why are we passing a median over $120,000 then ? That’s too much.
#16 said…..But why are we passing a median over $120,000 then ? That’s too much
I could ask the same type of question, why do we have homes in town that are over $1,200,000.00 ? That’s way too much.
so we are paying people $120 grand to rake leaves ?
Even if you want people to live here that work for Ridgewood, one person doesn’t need to make the entire household’s income. Therefore, you shouldn’t base the salary based on whether that person could live in Ridgewood on it.
And by the way, I’m pretty sure my sanitation collectors don’t live in Ridgewood. They do a pretty good job though.
Thed
No James, we are paying people $120 grand to NOT rake leaves
…and NOT pick up Christmas trees
…and NOT plow snow
…and NOT perform rear yard waste removal (unless conditions are ideal)
No one I know gets paid 120 grand in sanitation, or streets( dpw ) period never mind what they do or don’t do.
You are twisting the facts as usual. No one in the private sector can afford to live on their starting wages alone, that’s why young people live with their parents or have roomates, and take part-time jobs. If people don’t want these jobs and their lifetime benefits worth multi-millions, let them look elsewhere. Taxpayers are not a charity.
What FACT was twisted #23?
Was it your complaining about an incredible 156% increase from slave wages of $32,000.00 a year to an actual reasonable salary of $80,000.00?
Or the fact that NOT one private sector job requires their employees to live in town which is a fact?
Interesting to see union talking points on a Republican blog #22. You are arguing that starting wages should be raised to $80,000 so that new hires can afford to live in their own house in Ridgewood and pay taxes here in order to meet residency requirements which your own union wrote in to the contracts ??? The unions made the residency requirement “a fact”, and now they want wages to rise to meet their own “facts” ? That’s called thuggery. A 25 year old should not be able to afford to own their own home on their starting salary. Taxpayers aren’t a charity, give it a break. $80,000 is 58% of the median household INCOME in Ridgewood, which includes double income families. You want that for a starting salary for a 20-something compared to people with graduate degrees and years of work experience and children ? This is just fantasy.
80k is not a reasonable ‘salary’ for a ‘laborer’.
Sorry, your argument is falling upon deaf ears.
So you’re saying that the $81,971 by the end of the fifth year of employment from STEP wage increases, in ADDITION to the publicly disclosed 4.2% annual wage increase, AND a 2% bonus after year four is insufficient for a living wage and that the new hire cannot suck it up for those first five years with a roomate or living with their parents ? Maybe they should also own a vacation home on the shore with a 4×4 truck and twin-engine outboard by the age of 30 ? Lots of 30 olds on Wall Street live large like that. And they can get fired at any time. If you want your union colleagues to earn those kind of wages by age 30, then give taxpayers concessions on pensions & healthcare which in many cases triple or quadruple what the municipal employee earns from their working career. You cannot have it both ways. And as usual, its not about what we pay today, it’s about the hundreds of milliosn we’ve promised to retirees tomorrow. Those Village rules will be changed, you just ensured that.
#24, in case you hadn’t noticed, we already pay some of the highest property taxes in the United States, way above the Bergen County and NJ averages. Interesting theory that you think the free market should pay the same to people with graduate degrees as someone serving the community with only a junior college equiavlent degree. You also conveniently ignore the fact that those same municipal workers get lifetime job security, PLUS pensions & healthcare for life. Private sector workers get none of that anymore. Your facts are twisted, and you are just posting union talking points.