BuckeyeBlog

It’s a common talking point by those pushing health care “reform” that those who are oppose the legislation making its way through Congress are merely shills for the health insurance industry. This contention, as Tim Carney points out in a few different places, ignores a few things. One, the health insurance industry is pushing hard to enact health care reform and essentially supports the legislation that is emerging from Congress. Two, the health insurance industry is giving campaign contributions heavily to those who are authoring the reform:

The insurance industry gave 60% of its money to Democratic candidates in 2008 and so far has given 65% of its money to Democrats in the 2010 cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org.

The top recipient of health insurance PAC money this cycle is Henry Waxman, chief author of the House “reform bill,” who is tied with Harry Reid for that honor.

In 2008, the top recipient of HMO money was Barack Obama, and the top non-presidential recipent was Max Baucus, chief Senate author of “reform.”

Maybe any liberals who are in favor of this “reform” can post a comment or two about how they feel being patsies for the health insurance lobby.

The Division of Police is the biggest personnel cost for the City of Columbus.  It represents over 31% of total personnel costs in 2008, totaling over $166 million.

The Division of Police employed over 2,300 people last year.  More than 950 of those employees earned more than $75,000 in 2008; that is more than 40% of the people employed by the Division of Police.  97% of those earning more than $75,000 were police officers.

A number of Division of Police employees are making even more than that, 150 employees took in more than $100,000 in 2008.  More than 90% of those employees were police officers.

79% of employees in the Division of Police earned more than the median household income in Columbus.  The percentage of police officers making more than that is even higher, 93%.

Employees in the Columbus Division of Fire are seeing plenty of green as well.  Over 800 employees in the fire division took home more than $75,000 last year.  More than 120 of them earned more than $100,000.

More than 1,500 employees in the fire division took home “other” pay that was more than $1,000.  20% of the total money paid toward Columbus Division of Fire salaries went to overtime or “other” pay last year.

Extra hours means lots of extra money for the City of Columbus.  In 2008, total overtime pay for City Columbus employees was over $28 million.

Over 150 city employees made more than $25,000 in overtime alone last year.  That overtime payment alone is more than 65% of the median household earned in Columbus.  Those same employees represent 65% of the total overtime pay.

Who brought in the most?  The top ten employees who made the most overtime in 2008 all worked for the Police or Sewerage and Drain Division.  These same employees all made more than $106,000 total last year and all of the top ten overtime earners also took home “other” pay.

The City of Columbus paid these ten employees $80,407.83 more in overtime pay than in regular pay.  Their overtime pay is on average more than 51% of their total pay in 2008.

So, who are the biggest earners working for the City of Columbus?  Employees protecting the public come out on top.  Eight of the top ten salaries belong to people working in the Department of Public Safety.

Police Chief James Garfield Jackson holds the top spot earning more than $200,000 a year.  Almost a quarter of that comes from “other” earnings. What constitutes “other” earnings?  According to The City Auditor’s Office “YTD Other includes, but is not limited to:  Terminal leave pay, Shift pay, Police Parade duty, etc.  The list of “other” pay codes is too lengthy to be broken down into individual columns.”

Holding the number two spot is 2008’s City Health Commissioner, Teresa C. Long.  Long makes just under $186,000 a year, $11,000 of which comes from “other” earnings.  Fire Chief Ned Pettus, Jr. takes the number three spot earning almost $183,000 a year.  Police Sergeant Michael Robison steals the number four spot thanks to over $10,500 in overtime pay and over $103,000 in “other” pay.  Rounding out the top five is Fire Assistant Chief Warren R. Cox earning over $158,500.

Mayor Michael Coleman holds the sixth spot, earning $158,302 a year.  Mayor Coleman does not receive any overtime pay and is the only top city earner of 2008 who does not receive “other” pay.  The number seven, eight, and nine spots belong to Fire Battalion Chief Douglas J. Smith, Fire Assistant Chief Jerry L. Mason, and Fire Assistant Chief Gregory A. Paxton respectively.  Coming in at number ten is Emergency Medical Service Coordinator David P. Keseg earning over $153,000 a year.

The City of Columbus seems to have found itself in a tough spot; an $80 million budget hole on one side and citizens needs on another.  The solution, according to city leaders, is to raise the income tax.

According to the Economic Research Service the median household income in Ohio is $46,645.  In Columbus it is even less than that, $37,897.  The per capita income in the city is less still, $20,450.

City of Columbus employees are a little better off it seems.  The median income for the almost 10,000 people employed by the City is $53,059.34.  That includes overtime pay but does not include pension, retirement, or benefits.

Total overtime pay for City of Columbus employees in 2008 totals more than $28 million.  More than 150 employees made more than $25,000 in overtime last year.  Those same employees represent 65% of the total overtime paid by the City of Columbus in 2008.

In the spirit of transparency, the Buckeye Institute requested a salary database from the City for all City of Columbus employees.  The City Auditor’s Office answered our request with .pdf documents detailing salary information including total overtime and “other” pay.

To make it easier to navigate through, the Buckeye Institute has converted the file into a Microsoft Excel document that can be downloaded and searched.

http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/docs/XPP0947_YTD_2008.xls

The Buckeye Institute will be posting a series of stories related to the information found above in the hope of informing all Ohioans.

On June 17th, Maurice Thompson spoke to the Ohio Freedom Alliance about his work at the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and economic liberty:

Listen here to a BuckeyeVoices podcast with Dr. Tom Woods, author of “Meltdown: A Free Market Look at Why the Stock Market Crashed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.”

Dr. Woods is speaking on the Ohio State Campus tomorrow evening, a learning opportunity you wouldn’t want to miss.

Time to ready the life rafts.  See our “Presuming Liberty: Using Ohio’s Constitution to Limit Government.”

A family in Lorain County faces possible charges for a third degree misdemeanor for organizing a food co-op for their family and friends. Authorities in Ohio entered their home with guns drawn to “secure the surroundings,” and confiscate all of their food.

The Sheriff’s Department says this is the typical way their police force and most others across the state handles situations in a residential neighborhood.

We hope you are enjoying Tax Day. It’s always good to be reminded of the burden government imposes on the productive. Now if we could only do something to reduce that burden…

Until then, the Cato Institute has produced a good video talking about “Our Troubling Tax System”: