Tag: lifeguards

Over Last Ten Years: Pool Salaries DOWN 6% – Finley Salary UP 59%…IT Salaries UP 68%

If Finley is still wondering why nobody wants to work at the pool this summer (they have gotten 2 applications to fill 28-32 positions) look no further than how he has treated them versus how he has treated himself:

For the 2012/2013 budget, the Hanna Pool had a “seasonal salary” budget of $80,000 [see page 36]

For the 2022/2023 budget, the Hanna Pool had a “seasonal salary” budget of $75,000 [see page 37]

That is a DECREASE of 6.25% over TEN YEARS!!!

Finley, on the other hand, was VERY well taken care of.

In the 2012/2013 budget, Finley was hired at $94,500 [see page 18 – Full Time Salary]

PLUS $6,000 car allowance (about $12,000 in today’s dollars) PLUS full bennies PLUS cell phone

Right now, Finley makes $150,000 plus tons of bennies – that is a 59% increase over that period.

Let’s take a look at how our bloated IT Department has been treated over that same period:

In the 2012/2013 budget, the IT Department “Full Time Salary” was right about $90,000 [see page 24].

In the current 2022/2023 budget, the “Full Time Salary” is at $148,173 [see page 25]

That is a 68% increase!

Solution to current lifeguard staffing problem? Double salaries to where they belong (approximately $15/hr). This means they will need to find about $75,000 in the budget to pay these kids properly.

Luckily for City council, I have a detailed list of all the times you have miraculously found large sums before, so it should be no problem this time:

The $96,000 A/V system for council chambers comes to mind. You had a bid from Broadcast Works for around $35,000. You instead went no-bid with Azbell and blew an extra $60,000 right there.

You also went with a $128,000 elevator (for City Hall remodel again!) when there was a $96,000 bid on the table from Austin Elevator. That’s ANOTHER $30,000.

You sold a building for $75k then bought it back for $229k – City Hall building AGAIN. That’s over $150,000 squandered

You incinerated almost $170,000 on a pre-fab BATHROOM in Campbell Park….yet another no-bid project that could have been done for half of that. That’s about $80,000 wasted.

Mike White managed to find about $72,000 instantly in 2020 to provide “free” electricity to the businesses they forced closed due to Wuhan flu. Apparently there was just $72,000 laying around unused.

Rich developer Deorald Finney was handed “free” electrical hookups for this houses in Stone Valley – at a cost to the City of about $72,000 in lost fees.

S2M2 was handed $150,000 for THEIR housing development after FORMER CITY COUNCIL MEMBER “Greasy” Chris Harrison begged for it.

City council and the LEDC squandered $15,000 on three giant metal letters (LTX) that sit on a pedestal in the town square and supposedly attract throngs of tourists!

You recently handed Ryan Ward $38,840 for software to make his job slightly easier.

After Two Years, Idea of Raising Lifeguard Wages Finally Penetrates Finley’s Thick Skull

Well, I certainly feel vindicated. After YEARS listening to Finley stand up there at council meetings stupefied that nobody wants to work for his shitty $7.50/hr wage (now bumped to $8.25 after 2 years of being shorthanded) and YEARS of ranting about how the solution is to pay them a normal lifeguard wage (at least $10/hr) he may finally be seeing the light.

He told council tonight that he was “a little concerned” because only ONE person has applied to work at the pool. In a rare moment of enlightenment, he says “there is a lot of competition for labor out there.”

No shit?!? Jesus Christ. Talk about living under a rock in a fantasy world. This is the SAME Finley who threw $110,000 at Ryan Ward for the ACM position (about 30% higher than the national average) and $85,000 at Stacey Ybarra (more than Mandy made after 5 years there) but he is too stupid to realize he needs to jack the lifeguard wage up to at LEAST $10/hr? Mind boggling.

He tells council “we may have to get creative…we may have to look at our pay scale“. That is not creative, you moron. That is math….and I have suggested it over and over and over.

You see, Finley only overpays Directors and Nerf job holders. That’s because (a) they will lick his balls harder in gratitude and (b) the higher he jacks the salaries of Nerf jobs holders like Stacey Ybarra and Ryan “Seth Rogen” Ward, the higher he can request his OWN salary be bumped in comparison – because is at the top of the totem pole and if any Nerf director directly under him gets up too high in salary, the answer is to raise Finley’s salary in response.

I suspect “Doctor” Chane Rascoe thinks the same way.

Lifeguards, on the other hand, are seasonal workers with zero contact with Finley. So Finley has no interest in helping them as they won’t be directly under his command and eager to lick his sack in thanks – like Ward is.

This is why Finley works in government and not in the private sector.