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Community - Annapolis
Capital Gazette Communications
Published
02/28/10
A month after Mayor Josh Cohen's administration implemented new policies governing overtime, City Hall has reduced overtime pay by nearly $97,000 - a 35 percent drop in spending that comes as city government chips away at a $9 million budget deficit. Find Us On Facebook
The savings came from the police, fire, public works and transportation departments, the four biggest spenders of overtime in the city. While spending was reduced, only one of the four departments met their goals for January. The city Police Department spent 42 percent less, the city Fire Department 35 percent, public works 22 percent and transportation 21...
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BRAVO MAYOR - 2010-03-02 06:42:38
YOU DI BEST !!!!
Dont forguet to refresh people new
DENP and Planig ans Zoning
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J L - annapolis, md - Karma: Terrible
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1
The Donald says..... - 2010-03-01 21:28:33
Doug Smith you're fired. Suddenly it dawns on him... an excel sheet. "This is really a cultural change to actually monitor spending at the department level by the month". Did he really say that? What a concept for a Chief adminstrative officer. Yeah Dougy... keep up that monitoring thing.
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harry trampolini - severna park, MD - Karma: Excellent
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4
What's - 2010-02-28 20:39:45
wrong is it is mis-management, the bus driver in question is making 24.00 an hour regular time, not bad for being a bus driver. I would bet that there are a few other bus drivers that would like a shot at some overtime. Cohen needs to fire Ms Matland and now. Beng on paid leave and no one knows why is bullcrap. In the private sector I would have never be allowed to get away with this poor management.
And why are managers and supervisors hourly employee's? They should be salaried employees.
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Pat Magnum - Arnold, MD - Karma: Good
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repossessions and foreclosures - 2010-02-28 19:48:14
Why is so wrong that a working joe can makes enough to buy a Mercedes ? How can the city pull the rug out from under these hard workers who have a reasonable expectation to rely on and expect overtime income to enrich their lives ? The repossessions and foreclosures might result from Cohen's anti-worker bias should be paid for by the salaries of incompetent administrators. Cohen's soothing words contrast sharply with his elitist attitude.
Spare the hourly worker. Get the pound of flesh from the salaried administrative ranks .
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Fred Shubbie - annapolis , md - Karma: Terrible
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2
Oh, Lord won't you buy me a Mercede - 2010-02-28 16:42:53
Congrats on taking on city spending, but I am disturbed by the tone of this article. Comparing December OT totals to January doesn't seem fair since there was a massive snow storm in December that probably inflated the number, I'm curious how the Feb. numbers will look after the second blizzard. Will the new mayor be able to blame that OT on the storm?
The article should have taken more care to detail just what the bus driver and police sergeant did to earn their money. Simply saying one wouldn't talk and the other could have purchased a fancy car is not thorough journalism. Maybe their supervisors could explain how valuable they are and why they worked so much. The way it comes across they are vilified. Overtime pay for police officers and transportation workers is nothing new in American cities, You should have put this in perspective. Maybe they are working overtime because there aren't enough officers or bus drivers. Maybe it's just because nobody was paying attention as you seem to indicate in the article. I would sincerely like to see a follow up that details just what these people did on their overtime shifts.
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Ed Lewis - , - Karma: Neutral
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2
When - 2010-02-28 14:10:50
the news broke of Dept of Transportation having so much OT, Ms Matland just dipped out. How can they continue to keep her on the payroll. I am all for people getting paid well, but a bus driver making $90,000 a year come on. I bet if you follow that money trail, it leads back to management in the Dept.
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Pat Magnum - Arnold, MD - Karma: Good
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 1
2
alternate universe - 2010-02-28 12:07:56
"Scheduling no emergency maintenance for the Department of Public Works during regular business hours."
I did not know emergencies in the city were planned. And good luck with the getting the courts coordinated with the police force scheduling---if wishes were horses my friends, beggars would ride.
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Fred Shubbie - annapolis , md - Karma: Terrible
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 2
1
One minute monkeys - 2010-02-28 10:25:35
"The only person tracking this or monitoring it was the director of finance."
So how hard is it to send a 4 memo to all the dept heads that says, " you spent this much--bad! Must reduced by X% in order to reach goals!! All D-heads must submit mid-month report next month!!! Jobs are on the line, my friends"
This is not rocket science. Fire them all !!!
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Fred Shubbie - annapolis , md - Karma: Terrible
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 1
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aunt Moyer and Uncle Tom - 2010-02-28 09:59:27
"Doug Smith, the city's chief administrative officer, credits Cohen's new policies and the heads of those departments for the expense reduction"
Does anyone out there think Smith would say anything else ?
This kind of change is too drastic to take as truth without a thorough investigation of accounting methods and total expenditures. What is the % of total overtime as compared to the total budget for the entire city for the respective months--and other perspectives.
It sounds too good to be true, and probably is, but of it is not please send me my refund check
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Fred Shubbie - annapolis , md - Karma: Terrible
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