Jacksonville outsourcing could cost hundreds of city employees their jobs

[simms3]

Maybe the money saved through outsourcing can produce funding for good projects like more Laura St and Friendship Fountain type projects.  I for one do not think outsourcing is a bad thing.  Usually the dispelling of lower skill jobs gives way to demand for higher skill jobs with higher pay.  At least that is how it works in the private sector, I am sure the city is different.

[JeffreyS]

Saving money through outsourcing now that has proven good for America.

[NotNow]

If the Mayor and Adam Hollingsworth take a 3% pay cut, they will suffer for what, a year and a half?  Then they go on to the next political job or back to Gate.  City employees who average less than one fifth of the annual pay of these two will be set back in pay and retirement for years to come.  It is not the same thing. 

[stjr]

NotNow, something has to give.  Is it jobs, pay cuts, pensions, other benefits, raising taxes ....?

What is your preference?  Politicos and much of the public don't want to raise taxes.  Unions don't want to adjust pensions and benefits.  State legislature and governor keep creating unfunded mandates while cutting support to the County and City.  Seems like the only thing the Mayor can control or influence is jobs and pay cuts.

[NotNow]

Contrary to what is being said, pensions (at least police & fire) can not be changed.  (At least as I understand it).  State law mandates much of the P&F pension system.  It will also not be cost effective to attempt to default on the DROP contract.  The city will almost surely lose any legal battle over that contract.  All of the new Police Officer positions are being paid by federal grant.  

Something is just not adding up.  We have the fewest Officers per capita for all major Florida cities.  We have the lowest pay of those cities and the smallest retirement package.  And we can't afford it.  How are Tampa, Orlando, Miami doing it?  How does our budget compare to theirs?  

Cliffs daughter, I would love to see that workbook.

[jandar]

Saving money through outsourcing now that has proven good for America.

Its not offshoring, its nearshoring. So the money still stays in the US. And more like it, locally for the contractors that are hired to do the job.

I work in IT, and my company has been through some mergers. How do you think the staff that does get laid off feel? They hate me, yet all I did was keep my job.

Improve your skills are stay stagnant and replaceable.

[stjr]

Something is just not adding up.  We have the fewest Officers per capita for all major Florida cities.  We have the lowest pay of those cities and the smallest retirement package.  And we can't afford it.  How are Tampa, Orlando, Miami doing it?  How does our budget compare to theirs? 

Not Now, the answer is we pay lower taxes in Jax than most any other city our size.  For the last decade or more, our mayors kept cutting the millage rate and now we are paying the price.  Everything here is on the cheap.  That's the Jax way.  Again, if we refuse to raise taxes (I would consider it for the right reasons but obviously many others won't), what's going to give?

[Cliffs_Daughter]

Cliffs daughter, I would love to see that workbook.

https://sites.google.com/site/mom2natebug/documents

Here you go.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

FWIW, I only make $25K - yes, I'm on that city employee database that the Times-Union has online.

I fired off a lengthy letter to city council last year when they asked for feedback in light of the budget crisis.  And in it I addressed the perceived lack of competency in several employees in the AFSCME pool. Here is just a section:

COMMUNICATIONS â€" true, we need employees to communicate with one another and with citizens on a regular basis. We may need some upgrades and soon, but we don’t need extras. What we DO need is to make everyone accountable for communication or lack of. There needs to be a documentable chain of communication for anything coming into or out of city hall. As it is, so many things are lost in translation, or lost outright, between divisions/departments. Many times hard copies are sent through inter-office mail… unnecessarily, I think.
These can easily be done electronically, digital signatures in place for all staff registered to a computer terminal. It's definitely a cost-effective measure that's also environmentally friendly!
Having said that I think all employees should be re-tested for computer/communication skills. I personally know more employees than I wish who can’t remember how to open a Word document. I came into this job knowing full well what basic computer and program skills I’d need, and I’m still continuing my education with these programs, and it bothers me having to take on their work sometimes because we both know I can do it faster. In the interested of saving time, I end up offering to perform tasks for others.
I know quite a few employees could be demoted or terminated if this were critical to their positions, but is that any different than a private corporation’s organizational development? We’re government, yes, but we’re also striving to give more for the taxpayers’ money.

And for those who don’t know, there are open-hire tests for positions, and then there are periodic ‘promotional’ position tests that you can take if you qualify where your test scores (if passing and on a certain priority level). Tests are VERY basic in nature â€" well, they are to me anyway. I’ve worked with every MS Office program there was in the past decade, and passed my new hire exam 3 years ago with flying colors. My previous job as administrative assistant in Mandarin paid $35,000 salary and had some nice perks. I left it to be a stay-at-home-mom if you want to know why I’d leave. I felt that was worth more than the money) I took the first available opening with the city, a Clerical Support Aide III. Because of my knowledge, my hiring pay was negotiated to $11.50/hr. After a year I was raised to near $12. I am still making that. Of course I’d love to make more, and I know I’m worth more than $25,000 a year, but there is nowhere to go lately.
Case in point: 2 years ago when I had only 8 months tenure, I took the exam for the next higher job class. But because I hadn’t been there at least 1 year, I was a priority 2 candidate. Several Priority 1 test-takers failed; only 1 passed, and I was told that even though I had a passing score 17 points HIGHER than that person I wasn’t going to be on the eligibility list because I was only a ‘2’.
I’m still waiting for HR to offer another exam that I might take.
There is nothing in place that says someone is required to update their skills to keep up with technologies in the workplace… there WERE required training hours (24 annually) that one could choose anything from a good available list, but last year they got rid of the requirement. Of course we have the option to take anything, but if it’s not required by your job to keep a license there’s nothing there to encourage it.  This could be a union thing, I don’t know. But it should be a union/city negotiation point. Skilled workers means the skills are competent to perform the job satisfactorily, not just what could get you by when you were hired way back when.
Now, outsourcing to a contract company would hopefully conduct skills testing to determine who to hire/keep, and I would deem that fair.  

But you really want to know what the employees think about the proposed changes/cuts lately, don’t you?
Well, there is a split between incomes and age. I’m 38 and have only 3 years here. 2 months ago I was finally put on the pension plan, but that’s another story. I look at the original ideas of pay cuts vs. furloughs. Because of where I stand, and the fact that I have a child in preschool and pay for extended daycare, I can’t afford to have any amount of time unpaid. I would rather take the 3% pay cut, which would make me lose 1 mortgage payment per year. A big deal, but it’s nothing insurmountable since I can adjust my own budget monthly to accommodate it.  Another lady who works with me has over 15 years, and is I think 50. She’s about 5 pay grades higher than I am. She hates the idea of a cut and would rather see a furlough as she could handle that in her budget. Then again, she’s also the type who will look into every rule and reg to see what is legal or not and fight like a scrappy Pekinese puppy biting the heels of anyone she can make listen.

As far as the union, I still do not understand it. I’ve never had any contact with any representative, nor do I even know if and when they have meetings. I don’t pay any dues to a union, and I’m not sure I know who really does, yet they represent us at negotiations. If I felt I was a member, I might be okay with it all, but as someone in the dark I don’t like feeling helpless in the process.

Outsourcing: I agree that, like the schools, certain divisions can be outsourced effectively. Sanitation/public works and fleet management come to mind… some community programs could as well, but they run the risk of being discontinued by any outside company. Just because you don’t use a feel-good program doesn’t mean it’s pointless. To several folks in the community it may be what keeps them alive and happy. And I work for one of those ‘feel good’ programs, so of course I’ll defend it. But I also see the immediate and long-term impact from it, which is more benefit to this city than you may realize.  

[NotNow]

stjr, the city could put all new Police Officers on the Florida LEO retirement system.  That is the system that all other Florida Sheriff's Office's are on and the same system that the citizens spent a BUNCH of money to get the Mayor, City Council, and a couple of others into a few years ago.  I don't believe that they will do that because they would have to pay social security and the retirement total cost per employee would be higher than what we have now!  I do have a problem with just a few special people being allowed into the SS system while denying it to all of the other city employees.  But that would make retirement costs "fixed" and not assessed.  Of course we all know the reason that the current pension obligation is so high.  Seems to me the most cost effective approach is to create a special assessment or a penny tax to get the pensions funded and then create an ordinance to forbid not funding them in the future.  That is the only way we can avoid falling into the same hole later.

cliffs daughter,  I feel your pain.  I still don't understand how civilian employee's are hired/promoted/evaluated and it seems VERY inefficient.  Also, most only make in the $20k to $30k range and a 3% pay cut would be devastating to many of them.  I agree with your outsourcing statements. 

I may send you a note a little later as we may be needing a CSIII over here.