The City of DeKalb claimed that the hiring of Laura Pisarcik fulfilled recommendations made by Executive Partners, Inc. (EPI). This is what the EPI report recommended: DeKalb would benefit from a proactive centralized procurement program. [p. 19 of Benchmarking section] Definition of procurement, from Wikipedia: Procurement is the acquisition of goods and/or services. It is…
Tag: compensation
State Employees & Workers’ Comp
Received this morning: this link to the Belleville News series of investigative reports on state employee’s Workers’ Compensation claims. The latest, published April 20, details the paper’s attempts to obtain information regarding successful claims. Recent and upcoming opinions delivered by the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor that pertain to Workers’ Comp-related Freedom of Information Act…
Workers Comp in DeKalb
You may recall that DeKalb would like to join the Municipal Insurance Cooperative Agency (MICA) instead of continuing to self-fund its liability “insurance,” but MICA calculated the premium at $1.1 million per year up front and we can’t seem to find the money. The premium was based in part on a five-year average of actual…
Comment on Teachers Paying for Supplies Out of Pocket
The school fees for my middle schooler doubled this year to $140. I trust this means CUSD 428 teachers don’t have to shell out a pocketful for schoolroom supplies.
Bell to Refund Property Taxes It Overcharged
The State of California is forcing the city government of Bell, a non-prosperous suburb of Los Angeles whose administrators were among the most highly paid in the country, to refund $3 million in property taxes the municipality overcharged. About 4,000 property owners will be reimbursed under the plan. Bell is not the only California city…
Time to Look at Bell
Home to 37,000 people, Bell, California is one of the least prosperous suburbs of Los Angeles at a per capita income of about $24,000, yet its residents pay the second-highest property tax rate in Los Angeles County — even higher than that of Beverly Hills. The taxes have gone to pay some of the highest…
235 Quinn Staffers Get Pay Raises
According to NBC Chicago.com, 235 of Governor Quinn’s staff received pay raises averaging 11% this year. Of the 235 who received a pay raise in 2010, 225 of them received more than a five percent pay hike. Those rewarded with a fatter check include a labor relations expert whose pay increase is more than $5,000,…
Budget Fail
In a previous post, I listed perks that theoretically could be cut from the FY2011 budget. Car allowances, magazine subscriptions, dues to professional organizations, lunch reimbursements, and clothing allowances run into hundreds of thousands each year. (Sure, some of them are contractual — but did they even try to talk to the unions about them?)…
Notes from the “Lunatic Fringe”
I love being called “lunatic fringe” by a City Council member. I really do. Let them show the world how far this body has fallen in matters of decorum and discipline. Let them demonstrate how much they despise the people they are supposed to be representing. Folks ought to know exactly who’s responsible for running…
FOIA for Council Members’ Health Insurance Participation Denied
Last week I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the names of the Council members who are signed up for the City of DeKalb’s health insurance plan, and have since been denied under the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), specifically 45 C.F.R. 164.501 and 164.502.…