From the press release on the Mayor's Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Summary, we see what the city is holding in reserves:
• $1.25
billion each year of the financial plan
— General Reserve: $1.0 billion
—
Capital Stabilization Reserve: $250 million
• This
reserve was created by this Administration
• Retiree
Health Benefits Trust Fund: $4.5 billion
One does not have to be a math genius to add $1.25 billion and $4.5 billion to come up with a total of $5.75 billion in city reserves. Nobody wants to call that a surplus but that's what it is in reality.
Headlines talk about income taxes coming in short of projections this year.
From the NY Times:
Mayor Bill
de Blasio said on Thursday that the city projects that it will receive $935
million less in income tax revenue than the previous year — echoing an even
larger shortfall in New York State’s budget.
What about overall city tax collections?From the detailed Financial Plan on page 5:
Tax Forecast
Summary New York City is expected to collect $60.7 billion in tax revenue in fiscal year 2019. This represents growth of 2.7 percent over the previous year.
Property taxes are forecast to increase 6.3 percent, while non-property taxes
are forecast to increase 0.6 percent. Economic growth is expected to continue
into the year 2020 as tax revenue is expected to grow 3.7 percent, resulting in
a total revenue of $62.9 billion. Property tax revenue in 2020 is forecast to
increase 6.0 percent while non-property tax increases 2.0 percent.
Not bad.Let's now take a look at NYC wage increases for workers cited in the Mayor's Financial Plan.
This data is from page 14:
Due to increased competition for workers, compensation has been improving. Average hourly earnings, grew at solid rates of 3.1 percent in 2018 and 3.6 percent in 2017 — the strongest two consecutive years on record in data going back to 2008.
Aren't you glad you have a union that just negotiated raises of 2% for this year for its members?
No guts, no glory. I understand that in Los Angeles and Denver where teachers recently went on strike they make less than NYC teachers and don't have the Taylor Law to deal with but they are making real gains by striking.
Here in NYC, any kind of threat of possibly thinking about showing some militancy is unheard of.
12 comments:
This week, Denver teachers won their strike and got over $20 million added to their base pay.
Today, Oakland teachers announced they will be on strike starting on Thursday.
The strike wave continues!
EXCEPT HERE...Because it might give our union bosses a headache. We suffer, they make huge money for doing nothing. This is why I opted out. When was the last time a student told Mulgrew to suck his dick, or refused to put his cell phone away, or take his hat off, or have a principal yell at him because a kid went to sleep in class, or a kid had no pen, pencil or notebook, or didnt do the do now, or had no AC on a 100 degree day?
What about AP FOR ALL, even if you can't write a sentence in English while in HS?
What do you think of Smollett making up the story about Trump supporters jumping him?
AND THEY WASTE $200K on this piece of shit...A Brooklyn federal jury has awarded $523,000 to a public-school teacher who charged that her principal took revenge when she rebuffed his sexual demands — and that the city Department of Education turned a blind eye.
The hefty verdict for special-ed teacher Shaunte Penniston includes $98,000 in back pay, $275,000 for pain and suffering, and $150,000 in punitive damages against principal Antonio K’tori and the DOE.
“I was vindicated,” said Penniston, who cried in relief at the jury award. “I got to tell my story to eight strangers who believed me.”
Her ordeal shows how the DOE — which last year tallied 186 sex-harassment complaints — has swept some cases under the rug.
Rather than investigate her complaint, the DOE let K’tori retaliate and District 29 Superintendent Lenon Murray — himself later convicted of forcible touching — terminate Penniston on bogus charges of poor performance, she alleged.
“The DOE allows predators to remain in schools,” Penniston said. “He was given a platform to do this.”
K’tori used PS 15 in Springfield Gardens “as his personal dating pool,” targeting multiple female staffers, charged Penniston’s lawyer, Thomas Ricotta.
In a recorded conversation discussed at trial, a PS 15 supervisor confided that she and others were also harassed by K’tori.
The city, which denied all wrongdoing, said in court it plans to ask Brooklyn federal Judge Margo Brodie to overturn the verdict. Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci said only, “We are considering our legal options.”
Ironically, the DOE blasted K’tori in 2005 as an “arrogant, self-serving individual who. . .will say or do anything and trample over anyone to get his way.” He bought supplies from unauthorized vendors, circumvented a lottery system to enroll kids he wanted, and tried to bar a special-ed program, but was only suspended 90 days, records show.
Last March, K’tori was removed as PS 15 principal after a new DOE probe accused him of a conflict of interest — asking staffers to buy solar panels from a company in which he had a stake, sources said. He stayed on the DOE payroll with a salary rising to $176,947.
But K’tori is resigning this month rather than face termination charges, said DOE spokesman Douglas Cohen.
How NYC protects principals accused of sex harassment
Penniston, 36, testified that K’tori hit on her as soon as she joined PS 15, telling her, “‘You are not to have a social life.’”
“He said I had to work closely with him late nights and weekends,” she recalled “He told me, if I did exactly what he said, my time there would be good. If I did not, he had the power to make it miserable.”
Penniston did not meet her students for days as K’tori ushered her around the school, introducing her to every employee, she said. He also stopped a boy in the hall to ask, “Isn’t she pretty?”
When K’tori invited Penniston to attend a black-tie dinner in the school gym, she came with her boyfriend and two others. “I think that really set him off,” she said.
Penniston filed a sex-harassment complaint against K’tori in 2012 with the New York State Division of Human Rights. Alerted to the complaint, K’tori launched his retaliation, Penniston alleged.
He put a barrage of 243 letters in her file, and constantly called her to his office for reprimands. She was chided for using a certain restroom. When she aided a teacher who fell ill and collapsed, he accused her of abandoning her class. He once ordered Penniston to sit in a storage closet for four days, she told the jury.
Charlene Griffin, a fellow teacher, testified that K’tori assigned a squad of teachers — his “building managers” — to stand outside Penniston’s classroom, and peer inside.
After a series of articles in The Post on DOE administrators who kept their jobs after city payouts for similar complaints, the city has hired more investigators. “There’s absolutely no place for harassment at the DOE,” Cohen said.
Penniston now works as a special-ed coordinator at a charter school. “I’m a new person,” she said.
UFT members just received a 2% raise on Valentine's Day and the total 42 month contract (Feb 2018 -September 2022) is 7.5% or 2% annually. This contract was negotiated by New York City which has a multi billion dollar surplus. How does our contract compare to the recently settled Los Angeles and Denver teacher contracts?
The Los Angeles teachers contract gave them a 6% raise for the two years, or 3% annually, despite a one billion dollar shortfall for the Los Angeles Board of Education. Moreover, the City committed to have a full time guidance consular, librarian, and nurse for every public school. Additionally, the City will reduce class size by two students next school year. Finally, the City agreed to a charter school moratorium for the next year.
The Denver teachers contract was all about raises. The three year contract had an average raise of 9% or 3% annually. Moreover, the contract increased and added steps, 20 in all, that guaranteed raises for every teacher. Finally automatic cost of living raises, based on the local CPI will be included.
Comparing the three contracts, one can see that our annual raises are 1% lower than both Los Angeles and Denver for the length of the three contracts. Furthermore, Denver has an improved salary step scale and a cost of living raises based on the local CPI.
The bottom line is our UFT leadership negotiated an inferior contract when it comes to annual raises.
Thato last comment is from Chaznblog. Give credit please.
So, another disaster. And we keep paying for Mulrew's 300k? Count me out.
I voted no for this contract because of salary and health care, but I do find it very interesting that the Admins really hate this contract. If this contract helps take down some awful principals and administrators I will be very pleased. I would like more money (we do get paid much better than most of the striking teacher, yes, I know we live in an expensive are), but if our schools become a better workplace, I can live with it, for now. Next contract: SHOW ME THE MONEY.
Next contract? Lol. Keep hoping and praying.
You dumb? We just took 12 years of below 2% per year. Higher is never coming back. We set a terrible precedent.
Haha. From 2010 till 2021 we took mostly 0 and 1 and 1.5% raises, with a few 2s thrown in. We teachers, the dumbest motherfuckers around.
After the 4 plus 4, which other umions negotiated for us, we destroyed ourselves financially.
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