Letter to Editor - Times Herald

Letter To The Editor: Vallejo Times Herald.
On Tuesday night, February 12, 2008, I watched Channel 28 because I was interested in the City’s proposed Fiscal Emergency Plan. During the three hours of talking, J.D. Miller addressed the Council (once again!). This was not his first appearance at Council meetings. Through the years, he has basically delivered the same message of financial gloom and doom - “You are spending more money than you are receiving”. And, he is right. He blamed this perpetual anomaly on the city’s “Structural imbalance” in the wages of city employees.
This was not the first time that J.D. has delivered his message. He has addressed the major labor-cost over-runs many times previously - to many different councils. In watching these episodes, I got the impression that the council members either were not interested, or didn’t get the concept.
But, J.D. has been, and is right, on his predictions of labor cost over-runs and budget deficits. I say this because we both served on the two city’s Citizens’ Budget Committees - one in 1993 and another in 1999. Many other intelligent, and knowledgeable citizens also volunteered many hours of their time, to assist the city during the never-ending budget crises.
J.D. presented our labor -break-even charts to many councils. These graphs projected that Vallejo’s labor- cost line would cross the anticipated revenues line around the year 2000 - seven years in the future, at that time! Also, the chart predicted that the labor costs would continue to escalate through future years, widening the negative spread between costs and revenues. So, today, 15 years later, our extrapolations are still true!
So, the next time that J.D. Miller appears before the council on financial issues - listen up. You will hopefully, learn something! J.D. would make a good council member by providing financial leadership.
Ray L’Amoreaux,
528 Brooke Drive,
Vallejo. 642-5389.
February 16, 2008.