This blog is maintained for the sole purpose of allowing the people of Peru and those interested in the cities of the Illinois Valley to express their views.
“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.” Samuel Adams
Peru's Firefighter pension obligations are not terribly significant due to the fact that there are only four full-time Engineers on the payroll. Privatizing Peru fire protection services could be done fairly easily. Remember when the idea of opening up the ambulance services (PVAS) to competitive proposals was so vehemently opposed by Harl and most of the aldermen. That was another example of pure "politics" taking precedence over sound business decisions which is typical for Peru. Peru's Firemen Pension is not a huge liability. However, the Peru Police Pension is quite another story. Look at the size of Peru's Police Department in relation to similar sized cities and you will see that Peru is probably 25% to 30% overstaffed. The reason for the excess nuber of Peru officers is like everything else in Peru. It's purely "political". Peru's Police Chief understands the great political benefit of hiring and surrounding himself with as many officers as he possibly can. This ensures a certain level of political loyalty to the Chief from those officers "he" hired and in turn the Chief, who is of course appointed by the mayor, then pledges the political loyalty of those officers to the mayor in return for his continued appointement as Police Chief. It's Basic Peru Politics 101. The reality of the situation for the typical Peru taxpayer is realized when you add up the total of all pension obligations for the Peru Police Department. Peru's Treasurer has been playing "catch-up" for a few years now pumping general fund cash into the Peru Police Pension fund due to the fact that the Baker administration had neglected the fund for years to a point where it had become dangerously underfunded. Bottom line is this folks. Pure unadulterated "POLITICS" is the sole determining factor in the size and efficiency of your police department and the massive pension obligations that go along with. Harl and the current city council have neither the political will nor the ethical character to make the necessary cuts to downsize the Peru Police Department, or any other deapartment as far as that goes. The Peru mayor and each and every alderman on the Finance and Public Safety Committee including Dave Potthoff are complicit in contributing to the current pension crisis in the State of Illinois. They will cry and complain and blame the state legislature for the pension crisis in one breath and the next thing you know Bernabei will ask them to hire two more patrolmen and they will do so without a second thought. That is another example of how "All politics is local". If Peru had a qualified and honest City Manager working within the Council/Manager from of government using his/her authority to correct this and all the other political shenanigans going on in Peru we might actually have a chance of realizing the true potential of this city. Harl and the current council are in the process of politcizing every aspect of city government and in doing so they are knowingly turning their backs on the people they are charged to represent.
2 comments:
Sounds like a good idea. Peru should skip the full time FD and go straight to a full time privatized FD with ambulance.
Peru's Firefighter pension obligations are not terribly significant due to the fact that there are only four full-time Engineers on the payroll. Privatizing Peru fire protection services could be done fairly easily. Remember when the idea of opening up the ambulance services (PVAS) to competitive proposals was so vehemently opposed by Harl and most of the aldermen. That was another example of pure "politics" taking precedence over sound business decisions which is typical for Peru. Peru's Firemen Pension is not a huge liability. However, the Peru Police Pension is quite another story. Look at the size of Peru's Police Department in relation to similar sized cities and you will see that Peru is probably 25% to 30% overstaffed. The reason for the excess nuber of Peru officers is like everything else in Peru. It's purely "political". Peru's Police Chief understands the great political benefit of hiring and surrounding himself with as many officers as he possibly can. This ensures a certain level of political loyalty to the Chief from those officers "he" hired and in turn the Chief, who is of course appointed by the mayor, then pledges the political loyalty of those officers to the mayor in return for his continued appointement as Police Chief. It's Basic Peru Politics 101. The reality of the situation for the typical Peru taxpayer is realized when you add up the total of all pension obligations for the Peru Police Department. Peru's Treasurer has been playing "catch-up" for a few years now pumping general fund cash into the Peru
Police Pension fund due to the fact that the Baker administration had neglected the fund for years to a point where it had become dangerously underfunded. Bottom line is this folks. Pure unadulterated "POLITICS" is the sole determining factor in the size and efficiency of your police department and the massive pension obligations that go along with. Harl and the current city council have neither the political will nor the ethical character to make the necessary cuts to downsize the Peru Police Department, or any other deapartment as far as that goes. The Peru mayor and each and every alderman on the Finance and Public Safety Committee including Dave Potthoff are complicit in contributing to the current pension crisis in the State of Illinois. They will cry and complain and blame the state legislature for the pension crisis in one breath and the next thing you know Bernabei will ask them to hire two more patrolmen and they will do so without a second thought. That is another example of how "All politics is local". If Peru had a qualified and honest City Manager working within the Council/Manager from of government using his/her authority to correct this and all the other political shenanigans going on in Peru we might actually have a chance of realizing the true potential of this city. Harl and the current council are in the process of politcizing every aspect of city government and in doing so they are knowingly turning their backs on the people they are charged to represent.
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