Uh-oh! Johns Creek Has A Revenue Problem? Over the last year, in several different venues, City Council Members have spoken the words – the City of Johns Creek has a revenue problem. The more discussions occur regarding “the District”, the more often the words are spoken.
--Did You Know:
- The employees of the City of Johns Creek salaries are one of the highest in the state of Georgia.
- The City of Johns Creek provides a 17% - 22% retirement program to all employees.
- The City contributes 12% of employees’ salaries into their retirement accounts labeled profit sharing annually. This is in addition to the 5% match of contributions.
- All employees of the City of Johns Creek receive COLA (cost of living increases) as well as merit increases annually as part of the budget.
- All employees of the City of Johns Creek have received COLA increases every year including the years of the Great Recession.
- When Johns Creek became a city in 2006 the underfunded road resurfacing situation assumed from Fulton County was assessed at approximately $15 million. And to date that number has increased to $40 million unfunded.
- Since the City’s inception, only one subdivision’s roads has been resurfaced using 100% City dollars.
- In 2014 the City decided that road surfacing was a priority and as part of this resurfacing effort, the City of Johns Creek took on $4 million in debt from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
- The City of Johns Creek has a reserve of approximately $25 million not restricted by day to day needs.
Do you Think the City of Johns Creek has a revenue problem?
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Signed,
Concerned Citizen of Johns Creek
The City of Johns Creek has a Priority Problem.
AGREED!
The City of Johns Creek has all kinds of problems. Vote wisely next time!
this COLA/Merit raise adds up to a 5% raise each year and compounds to 136% in ten years.
JC employees also do more with fewer employees than other cities. Their raises are well deserved
Raises should be earned based on merit not guaranteed as cost of living increases. There are only so many dollars available...they can't be spent on guaranteed raises which dwindle the funds available from the General Fund. Ultimately, the City will run out of funds and yet the services haven't increased. State factually why every employee should receive raises that compound - including the increase directly to tax deferred retirement plans.
The sector that pays for this isn't receiving increases and benefits at this same rate. At what point is enough - enough?
SSmith...show facts. Don't just spout out statements.
Of course, he cannot.-)
Fact Johns Creek rates as the safest city in Georgia.
Fact: Johns Creek has problems and employees ready/willing to tackle them.
https://www.johnscreekpost.com/2015/01/24/2-massage-parlors-on-141-closed-3-masseuses-arrested/
http://m.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/15-arrested-johns-creek-prostitution-bust/nkMMN/
Was Fulton county doing these investigations before the city formed? Or are they being run by highly motivated, well trained Johns Creek officers who earn their raises?
That says more about the citizens of Johns Creek than the individuals that govern the citizens.
@ Concerned Citizen. You are so right. It is the class and character of citizens residing in JC that abide by the laws, thus keeping the city safe. The city officials have nothing to do with that fact.
(If only we could be a little nicer in traffic ;-)) But the way things are now, with all the out of control overdevelopment, it is only going to get worse- much worse. Less Rezoning and more preservation of green space should be a priority of the folks that make the decisions. hmmm, maybe build a infrastructure first, then add more people???
Since when does the government have the authority to provide 5% matches to retirement accounts? It is not a private industry. Can anyone explain that to me?
And raises should be based on merit. Period.
Once again we see government disconnecting from the citizens. Their "vision" is not connected to the reality that the money comes from US! So 'they' buy $20+ million of park land that only max 8% of the people will use and will affect the city budgets forever by requiring ongoing maintenance and security. Median plantings, again in someone's "vision". Though they look great(and cost plenty) when planted, they will require excessive amounts of maintenance dollars to keep that way or they will look like hell. With grass, you just mow.
Unreasonable levels of salary and benefits are reminiscent of how our congress and senate take care of themselves first, then maybe see to the public need. Like any business, the only pay required it that which will 'retain' staff, not that which will make them the best paid in the state.
We don't have a revenue problem. WE HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM! It's called PUBLIC SERVICE people! Try representing your constituents and their purses, NOT your personal 'vision'.
This money does not grow on trees. It comes from our pockets. This kind of financially irresponsible behavior is pervasive in government today. When will it change to true representative government?
Tom,
As you may know, they are getting ready to ask you to approve a big Parks bond as well. Right now they are busy surveying the public and determining just how many dollars that they can hit you up for and not lose your votes.
$30 million? $40 Million? More?
How much are you willing to say yes to?
Even better that outsiders were hired to help us to determine that amount.
At the salaries our city staff make, you would have thought that they would have the expertise to do this.
But we'd have to think again. After all, it's only money.
Our money.
Anyone know why the unethical, incompetent and bloated city staff recommended "loser" Mark Rountree's "not-so-reputable" Landmark Communications for doing the "doctored" survey?
Please note that Roundtree/Landmark is Bodker's campaign consultant. Likewise, Bodker made sure to have Roumdtree run the Nazeera Dawood campaign.
... and why would lyin' crooked Bodker solicit the JC Billboards' owners to con tribute to his puppet candi date?
https://www.johnscreekpost.com/nazeera-dawood-final-2015-campaign-contributions-expenses/#comment-1402
The city staff enjoys many perks outside of just their retirement/profit sharing, HIGH base salaries and guaranteed increases. Extremely generous time off packages with enormous rollovers, lots of holidays, free this and that, cars, etc. When this city was formed, we were told it would be an outsourced government with as few city employees as possible due to the costs of city employees and facilities and the fact that CH2M could be used more cost effectively. Now we have a bloated Obama style government model. As far as quality of city employees, who can really factually say? There are no clear quality metrics in place to properly evaluate the performance of the city let alone the employees themselves. There aren't even proper audits of the finances or reporting from the various departments. Look at the budget the year before. Delve into the public safety statistics and see if your research concludes what the city's reported data reflects. We've seen time and again in council meetings that errors and lack of diligence is pervasive. If the employees are overworked, perhaps it's because they are being directed poorly. If they are working on pie in the sky future plans instead of the immediate priorities of running the city, then I'd say we have a leadership problem that the employees and citizens are suffering at the hands of.