Just me complaining again......

[BigAlsGal]

If he works for the city the money for his raises come from.....

I get it. My husband works for our county but it's kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

[barkley]

DH works for the city and has not had a cost of living or merit raise in almost 8 years, due to the economy. He has earned 3 raises on his own by taking online college courses and he now has been promoted twice (once just recently). The new mayor's proposed budget for 2015 includes:

2.5% cost of living raise- effective Oct. 2014
2.5% merit raise-effective April 2015

and.........Higher employee health care contribution, which will take effect in Jan. 2015, (we will have to pay 4% more for our insurance)

Gee, thanks for the raise.

I SO sympathize, but as a former county employee(both dh and I) I will caution you and your dh to REALY examine and prepare for not only what's happening to you now, but what is happening to current and future retiree benefits/pension.

when we hired in people vested for pension/retirement medical care (at employee rates) after 5 years, then it became 15 years-now anyone that's hired in during the last 5 years gets no medical coverage at retirement despite how long they've worked. about 5 years ago our county unilaterally decided to cap the amount they would pay for retiree health benefits, and have publicly said it costs them less to litigate the issue vs. upholding decade long contracts (the bulk of retirees end up opting out to get at least a portion of their pensions so the county saves all they monies they would have contributed).

we have coverage-but over 60% of my pension goes towards the premium (we wont talk about no coverage/high deductibles and co-pays). the county is smart though-they know the obamacare laws inside and out, so if you look at the premium charts, coverage just for me is low enough to meet the mandates while totally disqualifying our household for any programs/tax incentives. by adding in as much as your spouse or one dependent-the rate quintuples: scared:

last year I received 2% cost of living raise-but my healthcare cost increased by 16%-16% with fewer covered providers, higher deductibles and co-pays....the list goes on and on.

'back in the day' (I know-I sound like I'm 100 years old) many of us hired into government agencies at lower wages than the private sector offered b/c we looked to the future regarding healthcare, pensions and the like. it's one thing if a public agency incurs expenses/has a downturn in revenue to renege on these agreements-it a wholly different thing when they are overspending on private contractors or using loopholes in the law to shortchange employees.

 

[okeydokey]

My husband and I are both state employees so I totally get what you are saying. The thing that really bothers me though is that many people see public employees as leeches that suck away their tax dollars, without even considering that in my state public employees earn far less than comporable jobs in the private sector, and that is factoring in the entire compensation package. Public employees do important work and the ones I know are dedicated and passionate about what they do, but get treated like garbage by many.

 

[DeaverTex]

I'm sorry, but while I feel for you, OP, I can't get too emotional about your problem. There haven't been any raises for me since 2006. One that was supposed to happen in 2008 was cancelled by the recession. Everything has gone up around here but salaries, and there aren't any contracts or pensions. That's the reality of the "post" recession USA. Raises are for CEOs and managers who can show cost savings, realized partially by laying off employees and not giving pay increases. Ain't it wonderful?