What a difference four years make.   In 2006 politicians were falling all over themselves to promote the construction of affordable housing for our teachers, firefighters and police officers, who they then called our “heroes”.   Now, many of those same politicians have joined the media in blaming the County’s current fiscal crisis on “fat” public employee contracts and “toxic” union influence in County elections. 

At the same time, the unions are fighting among themselves.  The furlough issue has pitted teachers against public safety personnel and others.  The public debate is focused on union influence and infighting at a time when it should be focused on the failings of our County leadership.

Public employees did not cause the County’s fiscal crisis.  Mr. Leggett and the current County Council caused it.  They did so in two ways.  First, when the real estate market crashed, and as the recession deepened, they did nothing to reshape County government to meet the inevitable downturn in County revenues.   Now, in order to close a $1 billion budget gap in a $4 billion budget, they have no choice but to “trim” the budget with an axe, and impose new and onerous taxes and fees on residents and businesses.

Second, and to make matters worse, at a time when they should have restricted County spending, Mr. Leggett and the Council instead went on a half-a-billion dollar spending spree called the “Smart Growth Initiative.”   They have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new County facilities to house workers that they can no longer afford to employ.   

It’s time for our teachers, public safety personnel and other County employees to stop fighting among themselves and unite behind some common principles: 

(1)  In this economic downturn, the County’s top priority should be to pay the people it hires to do the County’s work – before funding optional programs like the Smart Growth Initiative.

(2) When layoffs are necessary, they should come at the management level first, instead of front-line service providers.  Administrators before teachers, bureaucrats before bus drivers. 

(3)  The County needs to plan now to address the costs of its long-term obligations to County employees.  The chronic underfunding of retiree health benefit funds and pension plans must be addressed, because those obligations will become harder to meet the longer they are neglected. 

Everyone agrees that the effects of the current economic downturn will be with us for many years to come.  But the people who get up every day and go to work to do the business of this County deserve our gratitude and our respect.  They need to know the County will honor the promises it makes -- whatever those promises may be.  They need to know how much money they will be taking home every week.   They need to know that they will have health benefits and pensions when they retire.   What they don’t need – and what they don’t deserve – is to be vilified for their unions’ success in negotiating contracts that Mr. Leggett and the County Council now say are unaffordable.