Just southwest of downtown Los Angeles, there are 10 parking lot enforcement employees to monitor the 1.3-square-mile beach city. Guess what these 10 lucky guys and gals are making each year?
Close to $100K. The two highest paid parking meter maid employees – supervisors – made more than $92,000 and $93,000 respectively according to city documents retrieved by Patrick “Kit” Bobko, one of five council members and who also serves as mayor pro tem.
But don't think the other eight employees were being jipped. The lowest paid meter maid employee made a more-than-comfortable salary of $67,367. Prices for the other seven ranged from that rate all the way to $84,267.
Those are some pretty ideal salaries, especially since the job doesn't even require a college education. These guys were living the dream. No student loans to pay off while receiving a salary greater than many college graduates, living and working near the beautiful beaches on the West Coast, with relatively mindless responsibilities.
In fact, they only had to meet four per-requisites in order to become a community service officer: “You have to be able to drive a standard transmission; you have to able to handle large animals; you have to read and interpret statutes and regulations; and you have a high school diploma or equivalent,” said Bobko.
Moreover, these employees were eligible for a lofty retirement reimbursement at age 62. For the 10 employees referred to above, retirement costs set the government back nearly $1.6 million (from the fiscal year 2011-12) with addtional medical costs for them from this fiscal year up to retirement amounting to $1,353,827. Without factoring in the employees' salaries, retirement contributions and medical costs added up to approximately $300,000 a year per individual!
Thinking about quitting your job and moving to LA beaches to monitor illegal parking yet? As enticing as it sounds, I wouldn't recommend it...
Bobko seems to believe that this is an unbelievably unsustainable trend – burdening the state's taxpayers so heavily for low-skilled jobs generally doesn't go over well with the residents. That being said, Bobko aims to outsource the city's parking enforcement operations in order to save money, reduce costs, increase efficiency, and reduce the hefty pension and salary obligations.
Naturally, this motion has received resistance from opposition. But the fact of the matter is that outsourcing the parking-enforcement duties will be beneficial for nearly 20,000 taxpayers who call Hermosa Beach home.
“We can’t keep making promises with money we don’t have to people we are paying well above what the market would pay them,” Bobko said.
Public employees don't want to hear this, but they are going to have to take some pay-cuts and/or benefit deductions if we want to get this country back on a healthy fiscal track.
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