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fatlazyless · 09-09-2011, 08:59 PM

Since about October, 2007, the Gilford Police Dept has been represented through collective bargaining with the town by the Teamsters Union. So, how do the property tax payers of Gilford like them apples what with the Teamsters Union www.teamsters.org negotiator squaring off against the town with regard to police salary pay, overtime, family health & dental insurance, vacation days, sick leave and pension benefits?

If you google "Gilford NH Police Dept joins Teamsters Union", you can read up on it.

The same is true for Meredith Police too, but with a different union group, and not the Teamsters. I think it is www.afscme.org/home for the Meredith Police. The motto of the AFSCME is "We make America happen!" and what it should really say is "We make America happen for our members, thanks to your property taxes!"

Do the police pay property taxes too? Sure they do, some of them do anyway, and who can blame them for wanting to have a "good job at a good wage," but when the entire town budget is paid from the local property tax, it just seems like an out of whack tax system.

One strong reason why the local selectmen's role as a low-paid, volunteer town administrative board gets compromised is because many of the towns give their selectmen the same excellent family insurance policy coverage as their police and town employees. By getting the same expensive health insurance coverage, it's like everybody in the town's employment is all in the same one big boat that includes selectmen, teachers, police, fire, dpw, administrative, etc. They all in the same big boat, and it's kept afloat by the local property tax.

Supposedly, the board of selectmen is up at the steering wheel, driving the boat, and the selectmen's position was originally designed to be a "check & balance" that would keep local spending down low what with the selectmen being a volunteer, low-paying position that would attract people who did it to be a local volunteer and to be fiscally conservative. It used to work like that, but once the selectmen board, who are steering the boat and got their hand on the throttle control, once they start to get the same very expensive health insurance as everybody else in town, then they is basically all in the same boat, and have pretty much the same financial interests.

So who is steering the boat that wants to keep the town cruising along at a nice slow, conservative, low-cost speed? Is there anybody on-board in Gilford. It seems like it probably could be that the Gilford Budget Committee would do a better job of steering that Gilford boat because the BudCom members do NOT get the Gilford health insurance coverage that the selectmen get.

Plus, Gilford is an SB-2 town, so that must help a lot to keep that Gilford boat running along at a slower, less expensive speed, what with all warrant articles decided by a secret, all day long, ballot vote, as opposed to a town meeting, show of hands, vote.

So, it seems like stripping away all the health insurance benefits from the Gilford selectmen would probably change the tenor of the select board, because it would become a position that was a low pay, per diem, true volunteer position.

09-09-2011, 08:59 PM	#41
fatlazyless Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 9,169 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 310 Thanked 1,103 Times in 812 Posts	Since about October, 2007, the Gilford Police Dept has been represented through collective bargaining with the town by the Teamsters Union. So, how do the property tax payers of Gilford like them apples what with the Teamsters Union www.teamsters.org negotiator squaring off against the town with regard to police salary pay, overtime, family health & dental insurance, vacation days, sick leave and pension benefits? If you google "Gilford NH Police Dept joins Teamsters Union", you can read up on it. The same is true for Meredith Police too, but with a different union group, and not the Teamsters. I think it is www.afscme.org/home for the Meredith Police. The motto of the AFSCME is "We make America happen!" and what it should really say is "We make America happen for our members, thanks to your property taxes!" Do the police pay property taxes too? Sure they do, some of them do anyway, and who can blame them for wanting to have a "good job at a good wage," but when the entire town budget is paid from the local property tax, it just seems like an out of whack tax system. One strong reason why the local selectmen's role as a low-paid, volunteer town administrative board gets compromised is because many of the towns give their selectmen the same excellent family insurance policy coverage as their police and town employees. By getting the same expensive health insurance coverage, it's like everybody in the town's employment is all in the same one big boat that includes selectmen, teachers, police, fire, dpw, administrative, etc. They all in the same big boat, and it's kept afloat by the local property tax. Supposedly, the board of selectmen is up at the steering wheel, driving the boat, and the selectmen's position was originally designed to be a "check & balance" that would keep local spending down low what with the selectmen being a volunteer, low-paying position that would attract people who did it to be a local volunteer and to be fiscally conservative. It used to work like that, but once the selectmen board, who are steering the boat and got their hand on the throttle control, once they start to get the same very expensive health insurance as everybody else in town, then they is basically all in the same boat, and have pretty much the same financial interests. So who is steering the boat that wants to keep the town cruising along at a nice slow, conservative, low-cost speed? Is there anybody on-board in Gilford. It seems like it probably could be that the Gilford Budget Committee would do a better job of steering that Gilford boat because the BudCom members do NOT get the Gilford health insurance coverage that the selectmen get. Plus, Gilford is an SB-2 town, so that must help a lot to keep that Gilford boat running along at a slower, less expensive speed, what with all warrant articles decided by a secret, all day long, ballot vote, as opposed to a town meeting, show of hands, vote. So, it seems like stripping away all the health insurance benefits from the Gilford selectmen would probably change the tenor of the select board, because it would become a position that was a low pay, per diem, true volunteer position. __________________ .... Banned for life from local thrift store! Last edited by fatlazyless; 09-10-2011 at 08:49 AM.