DON’T JUST CUT ‘EM, SLASH ‘EM: ‘Sober look’ at public payrolls urged as bailouts tax system.
The warning comes after Boston’s public payroll was posted by the Herald showing 8,000 employees who earned $100,000 or more last year. While first responders are on the front lines of the pandemic, others in Boston have not been furloughed.
“We are faced with a crisis. By necessity, the state and City of Boston must find places to tighten the belt. They have an obligation to do it now,” said Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute, who once was the state inspector general. . . .
Out of the 8,000 city employees who took home six-figure pay last year, 31 recorded gross pay of $300,000 or more and another 700 workers clocked in at $200,000 and up, records show. There were also two large workers’ compensation settlements in 2019 for $772,000, to a school employee, and $401,000, to a council worker. . . .
The budget-tightening talk comes jobless numbers show one in four in Massachusetts are unemployed.
“This is the emergency we’ve talked about that would prod reductions,” he added. “What Congress is looking to provide states and cities is mind-numbing. We need to start now to get serious.”
h/t GR