HAMMONTON BLOG

Date: 09:41 PM Mar 11, 2010

Hammonton School Board wants Union to give up raises or else potential layoffs

Date: 11:45 PM Mar 11, 2010

No, I think every school employee should get another 3 year deal with 5% raises annually. The more money raised by taxation will definitely help the children of Hammonton. I wish the school board would set up a voluntary fund so the taxpayers can contribute additional money over and above the current taxes being charged.

Date: 09:26 AM Mar 12, 2010

Its time they feel what we have all felt for a long time, doing more with less. 180 days a year, full benefits and 7.5 hours a day. ENOUGH. They should be happy to give back because its all a one way street with these NJEAers'.I thank the board for being concerned about the taxpayer

Date: 01:08 PM Mar 12, 2010

Anonymous wrote:

No, I think every school employee should get another 3 year deal with 5% raises annually. The more money raised by taxation will definitely help the children of Hammonton. I wish the school board would set up a voluntary fund so the taxpayers can contribute additional money over and above the current taxes being charged.

Lets be realistic here. Employee participation in health care cost is here to stay; no getting around it.

What is fair for all is the following: you contribute a percentage (perhaps 1-1.5% of your base pay) based upon how many are covered by the health care package, ie: 1 person (1%) 2-3 (1.5%) more then 3 (2.5%). This way people pay for what they are getting coverage for & not paying for someone else's family.

Date: 01:21 PM Mar 12, 2010

Anonymous wrote:

No, I think every school employee should get another 3 year deal with 5% raises annually. The more money raised by taxation will definitely help the children of Hammonton. I wish the school board would set up a voluntary fund so the taxpayers can contribute additional money over and above the current taxes being charged.

HA HA HA very funny. LOL.

How can you specify where your money goes? There are kids from Hammonton, folsom,collings lakes, atco, berlin, waterford, winslow, etc. this taxpayer won't be contributing anything more than i already do. my benefits were slashed 20 years ago. Start there.

yes i will contribute to the old lady who walks around the high school with a book in her hand all day long. no one knows what she does but she gets paid to do it.

Date: 09:04 PM Mar 12, 2010

In the private sector, employees who get health benefits have to pay 20-25% of the cost of the insurance.

In addition, NOBODY in the private sector gets big pensions anymore. All most get is whatever they saved in their 401K or IRA account.

Date: 12:44 PM Mar 13, 2010

Maybe if the school and the town didn't hire so many of their family and friends for do nothing jobs they wouldn't be so overstaffed. Maybe if they didn't let their family and friends retire before 25 years of service with full pension and lifetime health benefits we wouldn't be in this situation. Maybe if the people running these facilities including the hospital didn't care so much about self profiting we wouldn't be in this situation. Maybe if the town didn't temporarily waive fees for commercial builders we wouldn't have these problems. You can't blame the employees for being over paid and under worked you have to blame the people who put them there and continually approve raises based on time not performance. Blame the people in charge they are the ones to blame for all this waste and mismanagement!

Date: 04:21 PM Mar 13, 2010

The mayor of one city wants to fire all workers: http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12117049.

Kansas City, Missouri is closing 1/2 of the schools: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978096681

A lot of government agencies are seeing the need to cut back on past spending.

Date: 08:04 PM Mar 13, 2010

Anonymous wrote:

The mayor of one city wants to fire all workers: http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12117049.

Kansas City, Missouri is closing 1/2 of the schools: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978096681

A lot of government agencies are seeing the need to cut back on past spending.

You don't need to go out of state to find towns making cuts nearby. Galloway closed two schools to save on costs a few years ago and just laid off 14 police officers.

Date: 09:05 PM Mar 14, 2010

The problem is not with the employees the problem is with the people we elect to manage our money. Our elected officials are the problem. Who is the blame for hiring so many unnecessary employees as political paybacks for supporters or they just hire their family and friends and pay them huge salaries, benefits and health care. Ex: HF gave our solicitor a $10,000 a year raise and increased his hourly rate then laid off 5 town workers?? Politicians waste money on projects that only benefit a selected few EX: town hall, Canoe Club, airport, Stockton. They they waive fees on certain permits that they or their family needs in order for them to save money. As far as the school...the administrators are grossly overpaid for doing very little work. Since they make over $100,000 a year way more than the average taxpayer they should have to pay 100% of their health care benefits and no pension. If the average taxpayer can't afford health insurance for themselves why should we have to pay for someones who makes over $100,000? We need more middle class politicians who know how to fix the problems that the rich have created.

Date: 06:55 AM Mar 19, 2010

The news is out 40 members of the Hammonton School System will loose their jobs. All this thanks to the unions who have created this situation.One would hope they would step up to the plate and freeze their pay, but as in the past they have eaten their own , because they only care about themselves. I hope that the board keeps its promise not to raise taxes, because there are never any give backs from the union. The time is now to tell the union that enough is enough, live like the rest of us. The union was still getting raises when the economy went bad. Just look what the unions have done for the car makers in this country, they have ruined it. Maybe the school board should fire everyone and start over like they are doing out west.