watchdog

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

August 27, 2008

What are the qualifications of the Administration execs?

With all the recent news about the Memphis city Council wanting to approve the Deputy Directors of the City of Memphis, I decided to start reviewing the personnel files of the top City of Memphis Administration executives. We all know about the Mayor and his qualifications so I am starting with Mr. Keith McGee, the CAO of the City of Memphis. I will then go on to the Directors and Deputy Directors and post all the information on line. By the way, the City Council caved in on the proposed change to the City Charter that would have given them approval of Deputy Directors as well as the much more important one concerning approval of professional contracts which the Mayor now gives out as he alone decides.

I have attached Mr. McGee's file and please note the following.

Page 2- This is the job description and requirements. Please note the minimum qualifications.

Pages 3 and 4- This is his job history and education.

Page 7- A salary of $143,903.76.

Page 40- Note the accumulated sick leave days of 235.5 days (47 weeks). Veteran City employees earn 2 -1/2 sick days per month which if not used, they can carry forward. This is 6 weeks (12 times 2.5= 30 days= 5 weeks)per year in addition to 5 weeks vacation, 11 holidays and 4 bonus days. Over 13 weeks per year when they might not be working. ATTENTION TAXPAYERS: DO YOU HAVE SIMILAR BENEFITS!!!

The city sets the educational and job requirements for these high paying jobs. Apparently they accept internet degrees from anywhere and rate them the same as degrees for classrom colleges and universities. Then this makes the applicant qualified, according to the city, for the job. This whole world of taxpayers funded salaries and benefits needs to be reviewed and compared to for profit businesses in Memphis and Shelby County.

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Click here to see the personnel file for the Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Memphis

Sunday, August 24, 2008

PAST LEGAL FEES OF THE THREE MUSKETEERS, SPENCE, WILKENS AND WADE


 

I
researched my files to see what information I had on how much Robert Spence, Ricky Wilkens and Allan Wade has received in legal fees from the City of Memphis. This is from 2004 and 2005 and I have not updated these figures but I think I will soon. How about $3.29 million. Nice work if you can get it and they can.

 

 



Click here to see how much these three buddies of Mayor Herenton have earned under his administration and this is only for two years 04 and 05

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The voters of Nashville, Knoxville, the City of Chattanooga and Shelby County have the right to propose a citizen referendum written into their charters. This is how Shelby County got term limits. Did you know that the citizens of Memphis do not have that right?

I have researched the information about Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville. I have attached the portions of the charters for Nashville, City of Knoxville, Knox County and the City of Chattanooga. Hamilton County (where Chattanooga is) has no charter and operates under state law. (They have consistently rejected a County Charter form of government).

The long and the short of it is that all of them allow citizen initiated petitions, all except the City of Memphis. Nashville requires the signatures of 10% of those who voted in the preceding general election. Knoxville is 25% of those who voted in the last Mayoral election. Knox County is 15% of those who voted in the last gubernatorial election (This lowering of the requirement passed by 79% in Knox County). Chattanooga is 25% of those who voted in the last mayoral election.

Enough said. We need this in our charter and we need a reasonable signature figure, not 15% of registered voters as is currently required in Shelby County. (By the way, the County Commission could and should lower this figure according to State law).

Here are six items that are currently approved by the Memphis Charter Commission to be put on the November ballot for the voters to say yes or no.

1. Filling Vacancy in the Office of the Mayor: In the event of the Office of the Mayor becomes vacant, the City Council Chair, who will at that time have the title of Mayor Pro-Tem, shall serve as Mayor for up to 180 days following such vacancy, at which time the public shall elect a duly qualified person to serve the remaining unexpired term of the vacated office, provided that if no general or municipal election is scheduled to occur within 180 days of such vacancy, a special election shall be held within 90 days of such vacancy to elect a candidate to fill the Office of the Mayor through the end of the remaining unexpired Mayoral term.

2. Suspension from Official Duties: Any elected or appointed official charged with official malfeasance, shall be suspended with pay pending resolution of the charge.

3. Sale of Memphis Light Gas & Water: Any proposed sale of Memphis Light Gas and Water or any of its electric, gas, and/or water assets shall not be final until first approved by a majority of duly qualified voters in the City of Memphis.

4. Term Limits: With respect to all municipal elections held hereafter for the Office of Mayor, City Council, and City Court Clerk, no person shall serve more than 2 consecutive terms in any given office.

5. Staggered Terms: The candidates seeking election to the Memphis City Council shell be elected for a term of four (4) years, and may succeed themselves. For the first election held pursuant to this section, in order to establish staggered terms of office, the candidates from even-numbered districts shall be elected for a term of two (2) years, and the candidates from the odd-numbered districts shall be elected for four (4) years. For all subsequent selections, the City Council candidates will be elected to a four (4) year term. (This will be modified as the Charter Commission made a mistake about the two year term as they apparently want to put the City Council election on even years rather than odd years to save election costs).

6. Instant Runoff Voting.

There is another proposition that will be voted on this Thursday (August 21) and it is very important. It is the proposition to allow the citizen and voters of Memphis to file a citizen petition to put forward for the voters' approval, a change or addition to the City of Memphis Charter. It will be something like the following.

Citizen Petitions to Amend Charter (This will be voted on this Thursday)


 

WHEREAS, it may be necessary for the citizens of the City of Memphis to propose amendments to the City Charter that are in the best interest of the citizens and which may not be promulgated by members of City Government.

Voters of the City may frame and proposed amendments to this charter. They may propose any such amendment by a petition addressed to the Council of the City and containing the full text of the proposed amendment. Any petition proposing a charter amendment must be filed with the City Clerk and must be signed by qualified voters of the city equal in number to at least 15 percent of the persons who voted in the city in the last gubernatorial election. The clerk shall immediately deliver it to the county election commission. When such petitions have been determined sufficient, the county election commission shall submit same to the voters of the county in accordance with this section.

The county election commission shall submit to the voters of the county any charter amendment proposed and delivered to them in accordance with the provisions of this section. A petition for recall, referendum or initiative shall be filed at least sixty (60) days before a general municipal or county election may be held on the question contained in such petition. The question contained in a petition filed less than sixty (60) days before an upcoming general municipal or county election will be placed on the ballot of the following general municipal or county election.



Click here to see the citizen petition clause for Metro Davidson


Click here to see the citizen petition clause for the City of Knoxville


Click here to see the citizen petition clause for Knox County


Click here to see the citizen petition clause for the City of Chattanooga

Friday, August 15, 2008

THE MCS TAXZILLA EATS THE CITY OF MEMPHIS


August 15, 2008

I have finally received answers to my open records request to the Memphis City School System concerning salaries and benefits for the some 16,500 Memphis School System employees. The report is some 1335 pages and I am hoping to publish the full report in the near future and post it on the internet. I had to file suit in Chancery Court to get a reply but after I filed suit I received good cooperation from Van Turner of their legal department and I thank him for his cooperation in this matter.

I have published 10 pages of this report below to give you some feel for the salary and benefit levels of this huge bureauracry that has a budget of over $1 billion dollars.

On page 1 you will see Classroom Teachers/K3 in a salary range from $45,000 to $55,000.

On page 2 you will see K3 teachers with Masters degrees in the range of $65,000.

On page 3 you will see non-union educational assistants in the $17,000 range.

On page 4 you will see some striving teachers who are defined in #9 below.

On page 5 you will see some teachers with Ph.D’s but not paid much better than the teachers with masters degrees.

On page 6 you will find ROTC instructors that are paid up to $75,000.

On page 7 you will see special education principals in the $90,000 range.

On page 8 you will find elementary school principals in the high $80,000 range.

On page 9 you will find High School principals at $100,000.

On page 10 are the totals for the first 1094 pages, some $637 million dollars and that is not the total which is over $700 million.

I have not had time to seek out those with salaries well over $100,000 but I did find Sybille S Noble, late of the Shelby County government, as Chief Contracting Office at a salary of $143,655.

In looking at the ten pages I asked some questions about the codes and benefits and got the following answers.

1. Question: Looking, for example, at page 1, the second line, classroom teachers, I notice two lines for each teacher. I assume that this is the range (low/high for this job). Is that correct?

Response: The top row is the current year salary for the employee based on an assumption that the employee works a full school year. In other words, it is not the actual amount paid; instead, just an annual projection. The second row is the projected salary for the 2008-09 school year based on contracted salary increases for the number of years of experience, education, and certification. It is not a low/high range for the job.

2. Question about FICA. Response: FICA is the 7.65% of salary that the division pays. The employee pays a matching amount.

3. Question: Under retirement, this amount is what the MCS pays (about 6.23%) and I assume that the employee pays a matchding amount into the pension fund.
Response: In 2007-08, MCS paid 6.24% for certificated employees and 9.34% for non-certificated staff. The rate changes for 2008-09 and is factored in the projected amount. These dollars are the district’s match. The employee must contribute a state mandated rate of 5%.

4. Question : Under unemployment, this amount ($54) is what the MCS pays and there is no matching amount from the employee.
Response: Correct.

5. Question: I notice that some employees have a BS degree and some have M A degree (masters?) but the M A get paid less. Is this a question of seniority or what?
Response: The difference is due to the years of service. You will notice on the top row for each employee that it begins with a salary grade and step which may read 300 10 indicating that this is a 10 month teacher with a BS degree and ten years of experience. If it reads 310 10, then it equates to a 10 month teacher with a MA degree and 10 years experience.

6. Question: What does the last line (PCT) mean? Most have 1.0 but some have .94.
It means that 94% of the employee’s salary is charged to that particular coding (regular instruction). In this example, the other 6% is coded to project 040 BEP 2.0 for working 30 additional minutes each day (extended day).

7. Question: Do the employees have the option to choose to have benefit deductions classfied as tax-exempt allowing contributions to be tax exempt from federal withholding tax? In other words health insurance premiums are deducted from salary pre tax.
Response: Our insurance is a ‘cafeteria’ plan; and therefore, is tax exempt.

8. Question: What does C and B indicate?
Response: C indicates that the employee has opted to be paid over a 12 month period (deferred payments) and B indicates that the employee has chosen to be paid in 10 months (normal work year).

9. Question: What is the difference between a striving classroom teacher and a BS teacher?
Response: In 2007-08, certain schools were identified by the state as requiring additional support and the new State BEP 2.0 funds were used to provide that assistance. These schools worked the extra 30 minutes a day and were paid for extended day.

10. Question: What is a MA + 45 teacher that seems to be better paid than MA teacher?
Response: They have received so many hours of credit in a doctoral program but have not received the degree.

11. Question: What is an Ed S degree teacher as opposed to the others?
Response: Education Specialist degree, which is more than a masters but less than a doctorate.

12. Question: Are educational assistants part time? What do they do? How many hours in a year do they work? Response: Many are considered part-time since they only work 4 hours per day, appx. 720 hours. Some work 5 hours, and others work a full school day. They assist teachers in the regular classroom while others assist with special education students.

13. Question: How many hours in a year do full time teachers work?
Response: The school day is 7 ¼ hours, which includes lunch. The teacher is paid for 200 days (180 classroom days, 5 in-service, 4 administrative, 1 parent-teacher day, and 10 vacation days).

Click here to see some representative pages from the 1332 page report on the salary and benefits of the some 16,500 Memphis City School employees

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

August 6, 2008

JOIN A GROUP THAT HAS THE TAXPAYERS' INTEREST AS ITS CENTRAL CONCERN

MEMPHISSHELBYREFORM
I have been involved in open records requests and investigation of governmental activities and financial affairs for almost four years. These activities, lawsuits and internet postings have been a solo activity and I think have had some positive effects on local government.

However the time has come to expand the operation and to enlist the support of the most important and underserved group in this City, County, State and Country, the taxpayers.

The Democrat and Republican parties are primarily interested in political power to advance their political and economic agendas which are not always in the best interests of the taxpayers. For instance, they cater to the public employee and teachers unions because they are a large voting block with an agenda that many politicians are afraid to oppose although that agenda is not always in the best interest of the taxpayer who pays all the bills.

Therefor it is obvious to me that the taxpayers need an organization around which they can rally and make their thoughts known and make the politicians listen and act on those thoughts. I envision and plan to organize a group that will work for the following initial objectives.

• A government that is transparent, open and accessible and that posts all financial and personnel information on the internet (e.g. all RFPs and bid results with winners and losers of the bids shown and explanation of why the winner was chosen, all personnel information with job descriptions, job qualifications, salaries, benefits, perks, promotions, all financial information with budgets and budget changes, all contracts before and after signing and all other relevant information that affects government efficiency).

• A government whose employees are paid at the same level of salaries and benefits as private for profit employees for similar job skills. (e.g. very few private for profit employees receive a defined benefit pension plan (they normally have a 401K) and very few get a generous health insurance plan after retirement paid mostly by their former employers.

• A City and County charter that allows citizen initiated petitions to change the laws under which they are governed and taxed. That petition right should include a level of signatures that is no higher than that required in the Tennessee Constitution for a Charter Commission, Article 11, Section 9) which is 10% of those voting in the most recent general municipal election. In 1997 the Tennessee Legislature changed this requirement for home rule cities and counties from 10% as above to 15% of registered voters thus raising the bar because they do not want the taxpayers to have a voice in their government.

• An open records law that requires the requested information to be supplied in electronic format (normally a spreadsheet or a word document). I have found over the last four years that the requested information normally starts out as a spreadsheet and then they give me printed copies of the spreadsheet and charge for these copies. This prevents me from having the electronic spreadsheet which makes it much easier to analyse the data. (a great example of this is my recent request to the Memphis School System for all salary and benefit information on the 16,500 MCS system employees. They let me look at over 1100 pages of the information which obviously came from a spreadsheet. I asked for the electronic information and they have not responded yet to my multiple requests.

• Under the current open records laws the person requesting the information is not entitled to ask for a particular electronic format even if it is obvious that it is available in that format and even if it would be cheaper than making paper copies. The only conclusion is that they do not want to make it easy for the taxpayers to know what is going on. A great example of this is the recent effort by Representative Brian Kelsey and Senator Paul Stanley that the election commissions in counties, with larger populations (e.g. Shelby, Knox, Hamilton and Davidson), be required to furnish their political contribution and expenditure reports in the same electronic format that state candidates adhere to. Actually it is easier to do so when compared to the current system of paper records. Moreover it certainly makes it easier to find out who contributes to whom and how the money is spent. Sound like a good idea? Of course it is except for one thing. THE LOCAL POLS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW WHO IS CONTRIBUTING TO WHOM AND HOW MUCH. Therefore, despite good faith efforts to get it passed, HB2929 died.

Therefore I have started an effort around the formation of MEMPHISSHELBYREFORM. I plan to get 50 initial founders at $500 each (I already have commitments from 18 taxpayers). I am applying for the formation of a 501c3 non profit organization and will then use the initial capital to solicit 500 members at $50 each and then 5000 members at $20 each. The money will be used for educational and research efforts to point out to the public and the media inefficient and questionable government practices. The exposure of this information and the amount of backing from thousands of members will cause our elected officials to legislate the reforms necessary to bring efficient government and lower taxes to the people who pay for everything, the taxpayers. I ask for your help in this effort.

I have attached an article that appeared yesterday in the Memphis Daily News concerning the formation of this new organization.

Click here to read the Memphis Daily News article about the formation of MEMPHISSHELBYREFORM