YES! I BEAT THE MAYOR HATERS!

GO ZIPS!

okay...do your thing ohio.com trolls!

oh one more thing

KENT STATE SUCKS

@Finance director Diane-Miller-Dawson.,
How bout picking a name and going with it.Ive never understood,or trusted women that do this.

What is Akron waiting for? File for the funds before its too late and they 'run out' of money. Or, are they gonna wait until the last minute, make a mistake, and not have time to refile?

Think get rid of one worthless deputy mayor and we could save the firefighters jobs.

Or get rid of the Police auditor a worthless non functioning job made up my Councilman Sommerville and we could have firemen to protect us. I don't think the police auditor can do any good public function.

Akron sure lets thier government waste money

What a freaking sham this all is. It's like the worst shell game you ever saw. DMD is trying to explain herself as best she can, but when this blows up the Drunken Don is going to leave her out in the cold. She'll be the scapegoat and the Don will claim he is a hero...

@Zapdog, the application deadline is not until Dec. 18th. They will not distribute the available funds until after that date so the there is no chance they will "run out" of money.

Miller-Dawson said Akron saved about $560,000 in salaries and benefits through the end of this year with the firefighter layoffs.WOW OUT OF 12 MILLION.How many of the Mayors deputies were laid off.

How many of the Mayors deputies were laid off.That would have saved close to 2 million.But no the Mayor do not have to layoff his people although he was to blame for it.

reading the paper and then reading other papers and then reading the POLICE UNION gave some and kept their jobs and reading that FIRE UNIONS would not agree and lost some jobs. No brainer here. Yes I'm in the 50 crowd. Yes I've done a lot for my company. Yes I have sacrificed for my company to keep it alive. To keep me employed. Yet these SENIOR firefighters (yes they deserve because they served) would not give up their SENIOR PAY for that year. Fine. Your NOT YOUNGER. YOU cannot do what a younger Fire Fighter will do. WE will suffer. Fires happen. Unfortunetly AKRON will get an OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT because the young ones were laid off (not saying the old ones can't do the job, they can (or we hope thay can) we just prey the fire isn't severe or life threatening.

good point, what happened to the 12 million dollar figure we've been hearing about all summer? So we saved a whopping 560,000 dollars. The free internet for downtown cost 795,000 dollars. That was really a needed expense. I know, somebody correct me and tell me it's a different money source. Well, it ALL comes from our tax dollars. Every penny.

UAEngineering, you should stick with building plans if you can't see wasteful wonton gov't spending when it's staring you in the face

The firefighters union brought this all on themselves. All the other unions, including the police union made concesssions. So guess what your group losing jobs, you have no one to blame but yourself. Merry Christmas to all those laid off firefighters who will have a tough holiday because their union has their head up their you know what.

Shell game...

police and fire wages have tripled since the collective bargaining passed in 1984. yes 300%.their defined benefit pension plan make any of them eligible for the 25 year retirement( some are under 50)actuarial millionaires! the article mentions accrued vacation, sick leave, compensatory time etc.usually cashed out for tens of thousands of dollars. is it any wonder cities are broke? how did the system get so out of whack and is anything going to done to correct it?

AFD fight the mayor & Council. Plusquellic will punish you without any regard to the saftey of the citizens of Akron.

Seems like people that protect us APD & AFD don't like the mayor and council.

My money is on the people that protect us not the Democratic currupt machine that exist in Akron.

Keep voting for these idiots and Akron will keep growing as a welfare city

You Dems are so very big on this social justice thing? Well, sounds as if the money is there so these great Americans don't have to lose their jobs? And, maybe you'll work real hard Mayor to convince those Washington buddies of yours and bring home some bacon.

The commission will rule in favor of the firemen. Then Don and his cabinet will look like the A- holes they are.

what ever happened to the light bulb story? I heard they are sending them out and charging us...

Logic, I heard that too....

Wow DMD says we saved $560,000 thru the end of the year,yet readily admits that she *ahem* miscalculated the other numbers?

@ BEARDEN
----------------------------------------------------
Those senior firefighters you speak of are now doing MORE WORK, because the Fire Department is SHORT over 80 people!!!!

It was never a question of not GIVING... It was about being fair and honest. The City had no idea how much they were going to save, by their own admission, when they laid these firefighters off.

So the next time you have a plumber/painter/carpenter/electrician do work at your home, just give him a blank check. That was pretty much what the city was asking for.

Let's see. Miller-Dawson is quoted scoffing at the union presidents figures, which were for wages and benefits, added in a bunch of items to make herself look good, and then in the end, quoted for JUST wages and benefits.

If the mayor is smart, he'd add this woman to the list of people he intends to get rid of at the first of the year.

@ Jax
============================================
Look, get your facts straight before you come out from underneath the bridge. Not all other unions gave concessions. When taken to the "body" one other union turned it down.

As to your Christmas comments, invite you to stop by the Fire Credit Union and make a donation to the fund set up, by Local #330, to help purchase Christmas gifts for laid off members family.

You have absolute no idea what is being done from these Brothers and Sister that are laid off, they still come by for dinner, still come to the Union meetings, and still feel the City is wrong.

Jax, I am tired of idiots like you getting it wrong, The fact of the matter is the firefighters are not the only ones that didn't give concessions. ASCME union that oversees the dept such as water, sewer and highway voted down giving back concessions because they too saw through the BS.We the firefighters asked several times what the amount was that the city exspected us to give back and they would not give us an answer. When Jim Masturza was asked he said he really didn't know. We had several suggestions to save money including having every city employee across the board take a 2% paycut including the MAYOR AND HIS CABINET. The answer we got for that was police and fire are paid out of general fund and others are not. We all know what BS that is because monies can move from fund to fund as was voted on back in 1991 with the issue 8 deal that hasn't been followed since 1992.The issue 8 was when Mayor P promised the citizens of Akron that he would maintain police staffing at 485 and fire at 392 that is why we have budgeted strengths at those numbers but haven't been at full strength in years. I am not sure what the numbers are in the police dept.but I do know that the fire dept. is running short, current strength 318. What happened to that issue 8 that the mayor promised the citizens years ago. I don't recall that ever being changed. There is so much more to these layoffs, its not as simple as we wouldn,t give up our longevity payments so they were layed off. The truth will be seen..........

It is amazing how the democrats, the so called party of the working class, is fighting actual working class people so hard here. The Mayors financial numbers change every day, they are obviously a scare tactic because a contract is ending. Anybody who can't see that has their head up there behind

Blah, blah, blah and blah, blah, with a blah, blah, blah.

And now the city and Firefighters will both spend hundreds of thousands of dollars they don't have, fighting over this.

Every city in America is going through this issue from this economy.We all just seen the Sherriff's dept. just laid of a bunch too. America is in deep doodoo. Akron has been in deep doodoo for so many years but can't seem to understand, we have no jobs, people keep leaving, our governments does nothing about the most serious issues and we all knew it was coming and yet, they hired these new firefighters anyway and now have to deal with all of this. Why doesn't the city just apply for another credit card too pay for everything they can't afford. It's the American way.

21k was my tab at the Fierhouse grill. Iw was bottles water for everyone.

City hall and all departments need a thorough house cleaning. Can you hear me Justice Department.

Peebs-
"@Finance director Diane-Miller-Dawson.,
How bout picking a name and going with it.Ive never understood,or trusted women that do this."


TOTALLY AGREE.

It's a start!!
Beat's raising property taxes..

What drives me crazy is the BS that is given out to the public by our government officials on every level. Washington,Columbus,Summit Co.,Akron. The latest is what the County wants the Sheriffs Deputies to give back to avoid lay offs. If they agree to everything they might as well work for nothing. We owe our safety forces more than this. Cops and Firefighters make about the same as any other City employee, give them a break. I hope more of you are fed up as well. The only offense that we as citizens have are the voting booths. I hope we all use them next time around. Good luck.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Tough. Government "workers", welcome to the real world.

The Civil Service Commission is a rubber stamp for the mayor so I'm taking a WAG that the firefighters appeal will be denied.
The mayor/city did NOT know how much they were going to be short and DID NOT know how much the FF's needed to give back to save the layoffs from happening.
They STILL don't know.

@PortageLakesGuy...

These hearings aren't costing the City of Akron an extra penny.

If you'll note, everyone who has testified on behalf of the City as well as the Assistant Law Director who is handling the cross examination are all salaried employees.

First off I'm skeptical of any findings from any accountant hired by the firefighters union. They could have skewed the numbers to fit their needs. Akron is required to file what is called an OMB Circular A-133 audit to the state. So there numbers are going to be accurate because if they are not and fraud is detected by the state, then someone will be up a creek with out a paddle.

Now, I wished the city did not have to lay off any of their employees but it happens, and it is happening everywhere.

If the city wants to boost revenue and cut costs, try retiming all of the lights in Akron so it doesn't take you 10 minutes to go two miles because you have to stop at every single light. If they're timed properly, people aren't sitting at lights wasting gas and money, that could be spent in retail establishments in Akron.

I have six trees in my yard, and for the last three years I have lived in my home, I have NEVER put the leaves on the curb for pick up. That's what I use my compost for. Encourage people to do the same and you cut down on cost for leave pick-up.

I'm done ranting and raving, have a great day!

@J

You point a finger at the democratic party for all of this. Why can't the Republicans find anyone to oppose the Don come election time? That speaks volumes about the state of the Republican party, when a very unpopular politician only sees competition from his own party.

In this matter, the City must defend the need (and scope) of the layoff.

How do they defend that:

The Mayor only laid-off 3 of AFSCME's 460 members (less than 1% of this bargaining unit) when they rejected the City's concession offer???

The Mayor laid-off 38 of the smaller Fire Union's 368 membership (over 10% of this bargaining unit) when they rejected the City's concession offer???

It is going to be hard for the Civil Service Commission to find that Plusquellic & Co. have been even-handed in their budget cuts and didn't have some anterior motive based on this fact alone.

@ Jon

It's not so much the state of the republican party, but the state of the city. There isn't going to be a republican voted into office in Akron for a LONG time, if ever.

That said, we need term limits. Whether or not the don is good for Akron, having him serve as some sort of lifelong Monarch is not. Anyone in office for so long can establish enough connections to stay there.

Overtaxed Voter- Thank you for that information. I just get so bothered by this wasted time for this issue and all cities are going through this same issue, costing us all, because instead spending time creating jobs, we are spending time keeping or defending jobs. If they are not doing the jobs we really expect them to be doing, then I am sure it is costing us something extra. Why don't they instead, spend the time learning how to bring good paying, long term jobs to Akron. That in return will bring people back to the city. That in return will provide the short fall of taxes that are now missing. That in return will bring back the need and requirement of these laid of workers.

Geeze, all these angry firemen calling for justice. This could make one wonder if the mayor's claim of harassment by the firemen last month to be true.
The mayor was cleared in that attempt, and the fireman had to eat some crow, as I remember it.
Now, the fire union has brought in an accountant with fuzzy math skills to audit the city's finances.
I read in a previous post it's a shell game. How about a pass the blame game. The firemen wouldn't work with the city to save the jobs of the 38, now they want to blame it on someone else because it's easier than accepting responsibility for their own greed.

I call B.S. on the firefighters. What do you expect them to say? Don't get all excited Mayor Don haters. I also call B.S on the city. I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

21K saved is better than 21K spent.

@UAEngineering

You'd be surprised at the success that a good Republican candidate would have in Akron if they ran a good campaign. NYC had a Republican mayor for years and California has a Republican governor. Akron is nowhere near as "blue" as those two places.

@jon: California has an actor/ body builder. Arnold isn't a politician.

@ SLAMONE
---------------------------------------
So basically your are saying you trust some one who states, in last weeks article, that she has no idea where the alleged deficit stands?

She states she never factored in unemployment, because Gauer told her, in October everyone laid off had jobs. The gap in logic in that is so large even you should be able to see it!

Those firefighters whom were laid of were given notice on Sept 15th!!!!!! Ergo, the decision to lay them off was made TWO WEEKS before Gauer allegedly made this statement.

So DMD, NEGLECTED or CHOSE to ignore the fact that they would have to pay unemployment for those laid off! Unless of course your assertion is that she is clairvoyant, which from her testimony she clearly is not.

As to "fuzzy math" and credibility... you be the judge

DMD
-------------------------------------
http://www.ci.akron.oh.us/mayor/cabinet/finance_director.htm

Mr. Suponcic
--------------------------------------
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/frank-suponcic/14/119/351

That wasn't a miscalculation either and the reasoning is because that really is how broke Akron is. It was no mistake that they would only save $21,000. They are penny pinching because Akron spent all is money sending the Mayor to Europe so he could play Mr Fat Tan Movie Star.

Where's Fire Marshall Bill when you need him?

This could be dangerous!

UAEngineering......why do you say that? I was just wondering that's all. I mean EVER....that's like a very, very long time....

@stleo

Is there really a difference between actors and politicians?

Also, but Arnold is so darn cute...especially as Turbo man!!!!

Miller-Dawson said Akron saved about $560,000 in salaries and benefits through the end of this year with the firefighter layoffs. She said the savings would grow to about $3 million, if the firefighters were off the books next year.

If the city saved $560K for 3 months, 1 year's worth of saving would only amount to $2.24 million.

I think it's fair to say the firemen aren't going to get any increases next year.

So how did Miller-Dawson come up with the $3 million dollar savings figure?

Maybe she borrowed the union's accountant's fuzzy math calculator.

Once again the mayor has been proven as a lying manipulator, and you blindly loyal supporters continue to stand behind him. So Sad!

Man, that's hardly the cost of another trip to China for Sponge Don and the Homewrecker. Wait. I shouldn't have given them the idea...

Does anyone know the actual background frm an educational, employment standpoint for the finance director? Not saying she doesn't have it but I don't recall it mentioned in any ABJ article.

The Union accountant seems to have a pretty good resume.

Too bad a court won't actually hold Mr. Phil Gauer to his "testimony". No such thing as perjury for union bs during negotiations. It's all just a game to them.

That's ok, in another 5 or 10 years they'll run themselves out of work. Outsourcing of classified jobs is already common place in school districts.

@ Wayne
---------------------------------------
What specifically are you saying Mr. Gauer lied about? To imply something with out an attempt to substantiate it makes you sound like a coward. What part of his "testimony" can you prove is a lie?

I am sure the city of Akron will saved more than $21,000.00. Due to the dumb games being played and poor relationship between the firefighters and Mayor Don, this story has gotten old.

@ True Republican
___________________

Not that I much care what her qualifications are, I don't live in Akron, but to answer your question, from the City of Akron's site:

Ms. Miller-Dawson earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Management and a Master’s Degree in business administration from the University of Akron.

@jimdandy478, guess what you get if you add $560,000 $2.24 million. It gets you near the $3 million figure. Considering costs of employees increase every year, it is not a reach to say a total of $3 million will be saved by the end of next year since the cuts were made.

JohnGalt - do the math here. Will 38 employees cost more than $21,000? Read the article again. The union guys were wrong on all of their expense calculations, expected the City to transfer $ out of other funds to cover costs and think that tax collections are going up this year.

Next year that is 38 salaries that won't cost the city anything anymore. Those 38 employees might still be employed if their reprentation hadn't driven salaries through the roof. But, what do they care if some rookies get axed now and then, they still have their jobs.

Answer me this, maybe I am wrong. Who does hold Unions accountable for their figures? That Finance Director will be out of her job if she's wrong. What's happening to the Union guy now that his numbers are wrong?

@ Wayne
--------------------------------

And what precisely do you think the Income Tax Revenue Fund and the JEDD Tax Revenue Fund are for?

The City of Akron collects monies in other funds and transfers them into the general fund to meet obligations.

The issue at hand isn't about Tax Revenue next year, it is about how the City has funded/not funded the General Fund.

Further, I wish you were joking about DMD losing her job. Is stating "the deficit is between 6 and 12 million dollars" as reported multiple times or when questioned last Thursday on the where the deficit currently stood saying "I don't know" really acceptable.

She has the protection of the a semi-secure job. The Union's CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT, however, works on a contract basis. He depends on his reports for his livelihood. If his reports were constantly erroneous no one would hire him and he would be unemployed.



Also, those employees will continue to cost the City money into next year, as at least some of them will still be collecting unemployment.

Representatives of we the Government complying with demands of Natural Law: what Mother Nature, God, or Whatever Power decreed to be the reality of the real world, God, democracy, capitalism, the US Constitution, and free, fair, and affordable commerce.
Demanding every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church; markets the cost; in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service; Of every firefighters, workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care); enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide for every child (job) they conceive; and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
This would eliminate need to scam Fathers disqualified for affirmative action with white skin, Union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and Americas grandchildren’s children to fund laid-off firefighters paying with welfare checks, food stamps, housing vouchers, and Medicaid with money derived from wages or independent business profit!

Well if this was a fair contest in an impartial court of law it would be no contest kinda of like the christians thrown to the lions. Significant advantage has to go towards the Firefighters.

It is apparent that the City has absolutely no idea on how manage a city let alone a city with money problems. How can they be so ignorant not to know what their deficit was at any point in time let alone now? Really, and these intelligentes are running Akron? LOL

Hats off to the union for taking on the mayor and his out of touch cronnie ridden establishment and exposing the now obvious (previously hidden) administrative ignorance by bringing in not only a certified public accountant but someone trained in the investigation of fraud. Maybe this guy ought to be unleashed on the city's books to look for the kind of corruption that is rampant in Cuyahoga County. Can Akron and Don be that far behind in an auditor's probe?

Unfortunately, we all know that the commission has been appointed by the mayor. Do you think that they are going to rule in favor of a union he can't stand??? None the less, it was a good show and glad to see a competent argument made. The true value to all of this will have been the exposure of political incompetence at city hall.

Wouldn't that be a cause to stop the ABJ presses?

Christmas is coming but will honesty come to Akron?

Smoke and Mirrors...

@ Gain Some More Reality - Let me repeat one sentence for you: "I think it's fair to say the firemen aren't going to get any increases next year. "

To follow your logic, those 38 firemen would be looking at a nearly $15K increase in wages and benefits next year if they worked.

Heck, where do we sign up for that job?

@ Wayne - You said: "Those 38 employees might still be employed if their reprentation hadn't driven salaries through the roof"

You are aware that it's the mayor that approves and does the hiring of city workers, not the various unions.

It's the mayor and council that approves wages and benefits.

All the unions do is negotiate. If the city says no, then they are out of luck in most cases.

If anything, people should be questioning why the city these workers to begin with, if as the mayor has stated, that he knew the city's finances were in trouble.

I meant to say why these workers were hired to being with.

Hey....all you guys are missing one important point here. The mayor has done his share in trimming down his cabinet. Let's see. Three cabinet members questioned the mayor's layoffs. Not only the need for them but numbers and departments involved. They were the Deputy Mayor for Labor Relations, the city personnel director, and last but not least, the city law director. The Beacon says that all three of these people took the city voluntary retirement offer. Take it from one who knows.....they did not do it voluntarily. But...he trimmed his cabinet

@jimdandy478, my statements have nothing to do with the existing firemen. I was only commenting on those laid off. Stop trying to twist others words.

Now for the remaining officers, if the economy does not approve they have no reason to expect a raise. It is the same reality everyone else is facing.

Slamone,

I agree. All of this dog-and-pony show to gloss over the 38 knives in the back.

JohnGalt,

I hope you're helping them out since you put them there. That's not really a charitable act if you ask me. If I burn down my neighbors house, should I pat myself on the back if I give him a warm meal?

maybe we should ask why the mayor was shuffling money that was given by the federal goverment to fix the sewers. thats why the fine is so high that they levied. as for the 21,000 thats all the city save because of the payouts they had to give the firemen.as for the police the mayor gave no guarantees that he wouldnt layoff after the first of the year. so maybe wayne should do a little more research.

maybe the citizens should ask themselves why are we paying for 11 deputy mayors when cities bigger than us only have 5 like chicago, the city of newyork, maybe the mayor needs all those cronies since he is out of the country spending tax payer money instead of staying home doing his job or is his job letting akron become a welfare city because he gives them everything

@buckeyefan, where did you hear the fine was high from the EPA because the city misspent money? Every news story from every news outlet said the fine was due to the inaction of the city to reach the EPA timeline. It had nothing to do with the city misusing federal funds.

@Gain Some More Reality - Nor did my comment. Must be your dislexia kicking up again.

Hmmm, looks like the original beta troll is back. I wonder if he's found the 38 employees that have been stabbed in the back yet. Everytime someone asks him to name them, he disappears.

Bye bye beta.

what year did the truth leave akron, before or after all the jobs?

ohio civil employees make an average of 11% more than general pop. only place in US that can say that. Who,s paying the rent?

@ TOJ
---------------------------------------
Again, have you talked to any of the 38 laid off members? Have they told you they were stabbed in the back?

@jimdandy478, your post clearly talks about next year. Do you not even know what you are posting now?

@Gain Some More Reality - Yes it did, and it was about the 38 firemen. Sadly, you couldn't do the math.

The city isn't going to fix this. The mayor and council are too busy returning political favors like the gay rights legislation that council is debating.