Damn you, city treasurer, for wanting efficient government

Newark is talking outsourcing of jobs in the tax department in order to save money. The employee union is whining as would be expected.

What is not expected are the objections to a money-saving plan from Marc Guthrie, council president, and Bob Diebold, councilman at large and mayoral candidate.

Diebold, I'm convinced, will make a great successor to Mayor Bain because he thinks in fragments. Here's his line of thought on this matter as quoted by the Advocate:

“I want to see all the information,” Diebold said. “I’m leery because you always hear the up side and you learn the down side the hard way. Originally, I thought it was going to save $500,000. Now it’s $280,000. What about honest and fair labor negotiations? There’s a value to that. Do they trust us?”

Yes. No. Maybe. Huh?

Guthrie is easier to understand. He's openly threatening the city treasurer for trying to save money:

“If we can't collect our own taxes and adequately pursue delinquents, it raises a question as to why we need the position of city treasurer,” Guthrie said. “Everything seems to be done in the name of cost savings, with little or no regard for the human factor and community impact."

When did it get to be so painful to SAVE tax money? Council surely has no trouble in finding ways to spend it - mostly, I think, on salaries and bennies for the union members working in the Safety Department. It's long past time - and many millions of dollars past time - when city government should have stopped sucking up to unions.

I would be the last to criticize the work in the Tax Department - though I dislike sending money to them - because generally they have been polite and helpful.

The reason I dislike sending money to the city is because most of it goes into the pockets of over-paid employees. So it's time to change that, but gee whiz - damn anybody who tries.

I say that Guthrie and Diebold are dead wrong, whether they are posturing for the sake of employee good will (meaning votes) or if they are really serious. They need to get a grip.

And I say hooray for Bob Lehman, the city treasurer, for trying to bring a bit of efficiency to government for a change, and hooray to David Rhodes, Rick Henderson, Don Ellington and Doug Marmie for listening.