Slicing the bamboozle money pie

When government gets a new pile of money, the very first thing and most important thing government can do with it is buy more government. The thought of using it to reduce taxes would be the last and the least important thing.

And so it came to pass that Newark City Council Personnel Committee was prepared when it met 7/9/07 to slice the bonanza pie from the Million-Dollar-Pay-As-You-Ride-To-The-Hospital-In-Tax-Purchased-Equipment bamboozle and buy more government with it.

The committee was poised to raise the salaries of the police and fire chiefs by 13% over three years, for other appointed office holders by 7% and for elected office-holders 5.5% and also hire another bureaucrat at $45,000 a year to coordinate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Something, however, gave them pause and they "delayed taking action." No clue from the Advocate report about why this occurred.

Likely the reporter didn't think to ask this very obvious question. Nor did his report refer to the fact that only a few days ago it was announced that uninsured city taxpayers were going to pay for emergency squad rides to the hospital, in direct conflict to what Council had been promising.

Maybe Council's personnel committee wanted to wait and see if voters still believe in - and/or are still ignorant of - their million-dollar plan to create free money.