Happy Labor Day, Newark taxpayer - You're paying $52.88 per hour to your brush-cutting city employee

This was first published on Labor Day, 2006. It seems appropriate to run it again, since the giving away of our collective tax-purchased farm is has picked up speed since last year. This, in spite of the fact that city fathers have found a new taxpayer pocket to pick.

A Newark City employee qualified to cut brush earns $52.88 per hour, at maximum salary, according to a report in "This Week Licking County." With one of the taxpayer-owned city trucks under him, the total cost for these relatively unskilled services is $125 per hour. The paper was quoting Tim Weisert, city service director.

Weisert had earlier been honored as first recipient of Newark Tea Party's "I Be Government and You Be My Bitch" award for his proposal to charge property owners $125 per hour for clearing shrubs and hanging leaves that contribute to dangerous traffic conditions without giving residents the opportunity to arrange for a cheaper alternative.

In case anyone still wonders why the mayor, his department heads, and council members are desperately seeking in every corner and cranny for ways to extract from our pockets more taxes and more fees, consider the fact that our city fathers are paying laborers $52.88 per hour.

I doubt whether any taxpayers are making $52.88 per hour for clearing brush - or any other manual labor. With that in mind, how much common sense does it take to to balance the budget in a better way?

The mayor et al should be looking at ways to put a lid on expenses by bringing employee salaries under control. The farm has been given away and it's time to take it back.