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Friday, July 28, 2006
A Jump Long Overdue
There it was. As I stood there, on the edge of the Ice House ready to jump the twenty five feet or so into Lake Superior with three of my friends, I realized that age had snuck up on me. My body was no longer fifteen – I was in my mid-forties. Clearly, the hair had left years ago, the bravado and hubris of my youth had given way to reason, and I no longer would jump just to prove that I was a hotshot to my friends. Yet, as I stood there, contemplating jumping into the water below me I quickly realized that my middle-aged friends felt the same as I did. We even talked amongst ourselves, pointing out that the Ice House looked considerably taller from this perspective than from the boardwalk minutes earlier. Clearly, nobody wanted to jump first; but somebody had to jump first, as climbing back down in front of a bunch of teenagers on summer vacation was not an option. With that in mind, and knowing that any injuries would most likely not be life threatening, I took the lead and jumped. So it is with the Retiree Health Care logjam at City Hall (for more information, visit http://service.govdelivery.com/service/document.html?code=MNDULUTH_140): someone needs to jump. The Chamber confirmed its willingness to jump first this week, when the Board of Directors affirmed its willingness to take on the tax and utility rate increases - provided those increases are applied to solving the crisis. Backing away from our support of the City Council’s fourteen point plan is not an option. If any party fails to accept its share of the strong medicine outlined in the plan, our city will be headed for fiscal insolvency. Many will whimper and complain. Many in the business community will say that it is unfair to pay for a problem they did not create. Our retired citizens-at-large and those with lower incomes will be hurt the most. City retirees will loudly protest stating they gave up substantial raises in favor of lifetime health benefits – even if it means ruining the very entity that provides those benefits. Current employees might say that they are being punished for past decisions gone wrong. All true - there is more than enough injustice to go around. So we need to collectively hold our noses and jump. Utility rate increases appear to be around the corner. Substantial tax increases look to be coming January 1, 2007. Current and retired employees will have to offer substantial concessions. None of it will be pleasant. All of it will be necessary. We have avoided this jump far too long.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
Friday, July 14, 2006
Bergson to Fire Department: Make it Better, Faster, and Cheaper
Who among us, when faced with higher costs for a particular good or service, simply forks over more cash for the same thing without complaint? The City of Duluth, for one, has done this very thing. Specifically, the City of Duluth Fire Department, according to the Minnesota State Auditor, is the most expensive fire department per citizen in the State of Minnesota. To be sure we need a good fire department and we want to see the fire department come whenever there is a medical emergency or in response to a fire. Yet, without competition there is no need to make it better, make it cheaper, or make it faster.
In comparison, the best thing that ever happened to General Motors is that Toyota has gotten so good. Currently, GM is having the life squeezed out of it because Toyota saw its weakness and exploited it. GM’s weakness stemmed from inflexibility, guaranteed jobs, and high health care costs, which essentially hobbled them and broke down their ability to be innovative. Toyota has been as strong as garlic and persistent as death in working to beat GM – without a GM miracle, it looks like Toyota will overtake GM this year because Toyota has made it better, cheaper, and faster. Ask any Toyota owner: most would buy another one when they finally wear out the one they currently own.
The fire department is not General Motors and we don’t rely upon GM to save lives. Yet, when we look at the fire department, there has to be ways to make them better, cheaper, and faster. Simply put: the city can no longer afford to pay for premium lifetime health benefits at no cost to retired firefighters and their families, nor can we guarantee firefighters an absolute right to not being laid off. GM tried both and essentially went broke. Now, Toyota is eating their lunch.
Mayor Bergson stated recently that he would be the most hated man in the city if he could solve the problems of retiree health care. I am not one to wish hate upon anyone, but in this case, we’ll all benefit if Mayor Bergson can solve this problem. For if he doesn’t, our city will either face insolvency, our citizens will pay enormous tax bills, or we’ll end up having a private fire department because we’ll be forced to make it better, cheaper, and faster. Unless the fire fighters budge, expect huge changes – none of them good.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
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