Here we have a situation in Janesville, where Walker's policies are actually working, 192,000 in unanticipated savings, but we have local government giving the money away. If I was Walker, I would just be shaking my head in disbelief. He gave them the tools to fix budgets, but they waste the money anyway.

"We are constantly asking our employees to do more with fewer resources,” he said."

No crap- get used to it like the rest of us. More duties and less or no raises for years.
Fire this guy already. He seems to think JVL has money falling out of our pockets like he does!!!

n00b---Union employees also have bills and such--$40-$50 thousand , i'll have to tell the hubby that his pay must have been wrong(lower) all these years.

Everytime I think I've heard it all, along comes something like this. Geez!

Well let’s look at what has happened here in the last year. The employees who have been working for you for years in many cases and are holding college degrees in most cases are suddenly told you are getting a 6% wage decrease in 4 months. I know I know they should be happy to have a job but putting that aside. They have to go home and figure out how to pay their bills, feed their kids, and make their car payments, house payments and the same list of things you have to do to make ends meet. at the same time they have not had any raises other than the cost of living for about 5 years now as the city has been "attempting to live within its means" and anyone in any department who has left is not replaced "as a cost saving measure" so there are less people doing more work because they have to "pick up the slack" for the lost employees and at the same time they have to go home and read this type of feedback from people who it seems think they should work much harder for less pay and "be happy"!
I think the City Manager should be commended for trying to cushion the blow handed down to his employees without any advanced notice so they have some time to adjust to the new pay structure they were handed. After all most people have some long term commitment debt like house payments, car payments, college tuition, student debt and the list goes on and on. It’s not like when GM started its spiral where everyone had a few years warning with sub pay and unemployment extensions.
By the way "administrative" is anyone works in City hall and is not in a union, the girl you meet at the front desk, The Engineering tech working on the street projects, the building inspectors. These are not people making 40K or 50K a year but simple everyday working people trying to pay their bills. The CM is trying to help his employees over this sudden reduction in their take home pay which for many is devastating because just like most of you they were living paycheck to paycheck and barely making ends meet before the “new budget tools” removed a couple thousand dollars from their already slim paychecks.
And yes you can quote about the madison bus driver making 6 figures or the director of something making 80K but this is about the MAJORITY of the citys non union work force who live in the middle to lower middle class wage rates just like most of you.

Or This one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yecslGvFV...
Where he adits to being the only candidate for president to also be president of a union.:)

Anti-clock- heres another Reagan speech on unions BEFORE he was given the neo-con script. If you are truly a Reagan fan you'll love this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsHXJr8tq...

Wow..
I love the positive people here on the blog.
Its 35 grand. Do you really think that it should be returned to you as a taxpayer? That is less than ONE DOLLAR to the average homeowner. ITS ONE DOLLAR! You waste that on a freaking candy bar or lotto tickets at the gas station....
City Council... keep my dollar and give the non-union staff a bone. I would rather have GOOD employees at City hall rather than the vocal minority here on the blog who think they have the required professional background to run the City.

Glad to hear it!! Walker has got to go!!!

curleysue, My "Vote Republican" is sarcasm.

youkillme says -
"Get used to it. Vote Republican."
Get use to what? The republicans taxing the working class to the max and then some, to pay the rich republicans a bonus? You must be one of those in line for a pay out!

The state supposedly had a $3.6 billion dollar deficit. Since even Walker supporters here talk much about “fair share,” I want to know where he got the money from? There are over 5.6 million people in Wisconsin so every man, woman and child would have to pay at least $700 EXTRA to Walker to make up for that deficit. Anyone not paying is getting a free ride paid for on the backs of others. Or are we okay with that since Walker stole the money from teachers and public employees and shorted communities hundreds of millions of dollars while increasing spending? Walker stole $3.6 billion from public workers and local communities AND it's local government that doesn't know how to budget themselves? Walker didn't make any cuts - ifn fact he INCREASED spending for himself. Wake Up!! There was a right way to do this. Recall Walker!

STOLEN MONEY, REALLY ? It is the taxpayer's money, NOT the Govt's !!! The majority is making half of what the people getting these bonuses is and you call it class warfare ? I guess they support people making 100k with great benefits since it is closer to what they are getting.
The big difference, ITS MY TAX DOLLARS that helps them make DOUBLE the people they are working for.

A complete waste of taxpayer's money. Signing the contracts to avoid Gov. Walker's bill and now throwing EXTRA money at the biggest expense (salaries & benefits) is showing that Gov. Walker's ideas are correct. Local Govt's do NOT know how to manage their budgets and have depended on the State for handouts to make their crazy spending habits work. Now that the State has said NO MORE, they are acting like spoiled little kids throwing away any little savings they had.
STOP FEEDING THE MACHINE !!!

Even when the "tools" are fully implemented the amount paid into the retirement will still be less then what walker cut from state money for Janesville. That means higher taxes and fees.

Walker's class war budget stole $192,500 in pension benefits from administrative workers, so now the manager would like to use $33,257 of that money stolen from the workers to pay those same workers a bonus instead of giving them a raise - AND YOU PEOPLE are complaining? That's it folks. White collar, blue collar it doesn't matter. Claw each other down. Want a raise? I thought so. All those who like to earn a bonus for their work step forward. Waiting for your Social Security? You think it belongs to you? They're coming for that next. No more hammocks. RISE. If you're not rich you have nobody to blame but yourself. Someone in China will do your job for $1.25 an hour. Get used to it. Vote Republican.

Has anyone seen the shiny new trash truck at about 200k each cruising around ? I know it has nothing to do with the story but just an example of wasted money ! Leviit needs to go bye bye !

The tools are suppose to save local governments money so they do not have to cut as many services. Not take the surplus and give out bonuses. The laws Walker put in place are starting to work and the local governments need to use the money saved in a positive way.

It would almost be funny if it wasn't so tragic how walker supporters really believe that there taxes will go down.Property taxes are up in all areas,wheel tax coming,water rates increasing 21%--oh and just how much are your state taxes being reduced? The "tools" were only meant to bust unions so corporate America can buy all the elections they want. As the saying goes--there's a sucker born every minute.

where's my bailout?

to levitt-are you crazy? you need to go. now lets see what the council decides, as if we don't know already.

Is this some sort of joke?

UNBELIEVABLE ! So I see, some squeaky wheels get the grease,and most just burn out their bearings trying to survive and make do with what they have and, most of all adjusting their lives to make do. I can't believe what I just read.

I love seeing that the proposed "bonuses" are for administrative staff only. The highly paid just need more money I guess.

DT I should clarify that...after my unemployment ran out then hit the saving..I do do some cash work but only enough to cover food...holding out for Social Security next year

cubfan48 - Living off of your savings for the last 3 years? Damn, where did you work that you could save up enough money to live off of for the last 3 years?

City workers welcome to the real world. Most every working person is paying for their pension and health insurance. Those people have made cutbacks to spending so it is about time you give it a try. Be thankful you have a job. I have been unemployed for 3 years living off my savings.

WOW and sooo many people have a dislike for Walker. This is why he is trying to stop the abuse of tax payer funded employees. I would like a Mayor and I as a tax payer do not want one single cent of my taxes to go to these bonuses. I think Eric Levitt should be welcome to pay them directly out of his savings account. Oh wait that is my tax money also.

So let me get this straight. We the TAXPAYERS have had a proposed 21% raise in our Water Bill, we have been told we will pay for trash pick up, and we have had our property values raised so high that the City Council and Eric Levitt want to run more people out of Janesville? But we have EXTRA EXCESS MONEY from FY 11? Come on if this City Council votes to have these lump sum raises paid out then I saw we replace every last one of them!!! We all are going to feel the effects of this economic drought soon so why give away money that we as a City may Need down the road? We have schools they want to close, we have unemployed people that have kids that our food pantries can't feed! They should be first in my opinion not the people who have had to adapt to a specific income and are living within those checks. I personally think that this should be looked at and reviewed before it is voted on to see where the money could assist the Residents of the City FIRST!! Those are our TAXES you are playing with!! Eric Levitt, I hope you are FIRED SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Levitt's kind of thinking (It's free money so why not?) that disgusts many Janesville property taxpayers.

Let's stick it to the taxpayers one more time.

I like that even the unemployed get to help pay these bonuses. Government: Take my money, and kindly give it to someone else.

Not sure how the City manager gets his position but now we can see why public sector unions are a conflict of interest.

Is this a hired position by the City Council?

The city manager does not make the decision, the city council makes the decision. It is his job to propose a budget which retains a quality staff. When you look at the positions getting cut, we have some pretty big holes in the org chart, and that has resulted in savings that Levitt is proposing to offer as one-time bonuses in lieu of year-after-year raises. That sounds like conservative bookkeeping to me. Of course, as said, the final decision is in the hands of the council.

An example of a taxpayer funded employee wanting to spend more taxpayer money on other taxpayer funded employees.

It must feel good to spend other peoples money.

Well, Eric, you certainly are good at spending money. Do you think finding new ways to spend taxpayer money is why you were hired? Whatever happened to running the city in the most COST EFFECTIVE manner possible??

Now you know what the wheel tax is for